Ray Georgeson summarizes recycling efforts in the UK over the last 20 years in three sentences: Pioneering community groups launched the first kerbside recycling programs in the 1980s; European and UK policies in the 1990s set recycling targets and increased awareness; and the 2000s saw the rise of organizations like WRAP, expanded producer responsibility, and local authorities competing for funding to increase recycling rates and meet statutory targets.

1. LARAC 2009 Where have we come from – recycling over the last 20 years Ray Georgeson

2. Ray Georgeson Resources Resource and waste industry professionals specialising in policy and strategy, communications, research, facilitation and stakeholder engagement Working with local authorities, UK Government and its agencies, the private and third sectors, European Commission, NGOs and other European governments Knowledge across the spectrum of resource efficiency, climate change, resources management and sustainable development Based in the North, but with an international perspective

3. Twenty years in ten minutes There was life (and recycling ) before 1989 1989 as a trigger point for environmental awareness European and UK strategies & initiatives Targets, techniques and technologies Education and communication

4. OK, so none of it is new really

5. The Eighties Pioneering community sector on kerbside recycling Local voluntary groups and environmental activists First Recycling Officers Launch of Waste Watch and LARAC

6. Stuff like this was big news…

7. 1989 and the Green vote Euro-elections 1989 Green Party receives 2.3m votes (15%) but no seats Politicians vied for ‘greenness’ Environment White Paper 1990 Environmental Protection Act 25% recycling target

8. The early Nineties Recycling targets were ‘aspirational’ Leadership from a small number of local authorities Recycling Officers a growing breed Some investments in reprocessing capacity e.g. Aylesford Community sector growing nationwide and a leader in recycling service in SW Encouraging words from Government, but little in terms of real policy drivers

9. The mid Nineties – Europe and new Labour Endless policy documents and initiatives from DoE – Making Waste Work, Producer Responsibility for packaging, Watch Your Waste Week, Recycling City etc etc Landfill Tax introduced 1996 by Tories, practically implemented by Labour Landfill Tax Credits Scheme (LTCS) – a fountain of ideas and initiatives

10. To the Millennium Many good LTCS projects – research, education, policy, community projects Some duplication and lack of co-ordination and strategy Local authorities had patchy benefits from LTCS Steady increases in Landfill Tax, but not enough

11. 2000 and beyond EU Landfill Directive first and foremost The rise of Market Development Waste Strategy 2000 – the first statutory targets for local authorities Creation of WRAP in 2001 2000/01 we were still at 11.2% recycling rate

12. The Noughties Fiscal instruments – LATS, increased Landfill Tax, PFI Producer responsibility – WEEE, ELV, batteries, tyres Early review of WS2000 – the Cabinet Office report Reform of LTCS and investment through WRAP and others in local authority support, communications, retail and packaging innovation, waste minimisation and home composting Councils competing for Defra and WRAP funds for projects

13. More initiatives Increased pace of activity – new recycling schemes, plant and reprocessing The growth of organics – collection and treatment – chasing the targets The use of social marketing and more investment in communications

14. A growing and diversifying sector Beyond the traditional waste management role Increased challenge of diverting waste to many other uses is growing a bigger sector with expertise in logistics, social marketing, finance, research and evaluation, engineering and many other skills Development of more training and higher education, growth of professional bodies, trade media, industry awards schemes, research and consulting firms, ‘new’ sectors such as organics – all have transformed the recycling sector in 20 years

15. Different ideas of progress.. Pace has been hectic, progress on recycling has improved in recent years, so much has been achieved Lots of issues – haphazard implementation of producer responsibility, waste/non-waste, collection and processing systems for recyclables, the challenge of getting beyond 35% to 50% and more, the affordability of PFI, the growth of energy from waste – choose some more!

16. The joy of developing strategy.. Farming looks easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from a cornfield. Dwight D Eisenhower

17. Where are we going to? Is it getting harder to achieve higher levels of recycling? What more can be done to engage the public? How will we engage properly with the climate change agenda and the role of carbon in resources management? What more can Government do? Are technologies such as energy from waste options crowding out new recycling initiatives?

18. Thank you Ray Georgeson Resources Ltd 2 Garnett Villas, North Avenue, OTLEY, West Yorkshire, LS21 1AJ Telephone: +44 (0) 1943 463680 Mobile: +44 (0) 7711 069433 E-mail: [email_address] Website: www.raygeorgesonresources.co.uk