MEMO

Historical Policy Memo

Historical Policy Memo

Summary

Politicians from all parties have acknowledged the need to address the impact of waste on the environment.

Waste Strategy for England 2011 outlines possible approaches to waste reduction and recycling. However it does so largely without reference to the historical context of efforts to control waste and increase recycling.

Knowledge of the historical context will assist policymakers in identifying the origins of the waste problem and some of the pitfalls associated with current efforts to solve it.

Previous attempts to increase recycling in Britain during the 1940s and 1970s both proved to be failures after initial periods of brief success.

The causes of failure were complex, but an unwillingness to confront the emergence of affluent, consumer life-styles, and inadequate efforts to regulate the market in waste products or to challenge key players such as the packaging industry all contributed.

Future policy, if it is to be successful in achieving 'One Planet Living', will require a willingness not just to mobilise actors around the widely accepted, emotive rhetoric of 'reduce, reuse, recycle', but must also challenge those with established interests in the status quo.

1. Introduction: a historical perspective for household waste and policy

1.1 Waste Strategy for England (WSE) 2011 outlines a series of ambitious aims with regard to waste reduction and recycling and correctly emphasises the contribution waste reduction must make to achieve 'One Planet Living'. The document proposes to achieve waste reduction through a number of means including:

a. Increasing the incentives to recycle: especially by increasing the landfill tax

b. Effective regulation: especially of fly-tipping and waste exports

c. Increasing the efficiency of usage of existing resources

d. Investment in waste collection and treatment

e. Developing local authorities' waste management infrastructure

f. Encouraging a 'shared responsibility' between industry, consumers and the voluntary and government sectors

1.2 WSE 2011 puts forward proposals without reference to the historical origins of the present issues surrounding waste, resources and the environment. WSE 2011 does not recognise the attempts of previous governments to address the issues of waste and resources, or the lessons that might be learned from these.

1.3 This paper contributes lessons from the history of waste in the twentieth century. These are:

a. An outline of the historical origins and causes of the present waste problem.

b. An outline of previous policy efforts to encourage greater recycling, and the reasons for their failure.

2. A brief history of household waste

2.1 The character of the waste stream in Britain changed dramatically during the twentieth century:

a. In the early twentieth century dust and cinders from household fires made up over 50% of household waste.

b. From the 1930s packaging waste (paper, cellulose, tins, glass, etc) formed a small but growing part of the waste stream; reflecting the emergence of nascent affluence and consumerism.

c. In the post-war era, dust declined rapidly in importance as electricity and gas displaced coal as the main sources of household heating.

d. Plastics increased rapidly from the 1950s, largely accompanying ...