Draft Business Waste Strategy PDF - london.gov.uk - Greater ...

Making waste work in London The Mayor’s Draft Business Waste Management Strategy Mayor of London 1
Foreword by Ken Livingstone,
Mayor of London
Waste produced by businesses – be it from shops, restaurants and offices,
industrial operations, or construction and demolition sites – makes up
three-quarters of London’s waste, over 13 million tonnes each year.
My vision is for London to develop as an exemplary sustainable world
city and that means that we must change the way we treat our waste.
No longer is it acceptable to bury it in a hole in the ground or burn it.
This strategy sets the framework for how we can think differently about
our waste: by minimising the amount we generate in the first place,
by reusing and recycling materials and then by recovering energy
as electricity, fuels and heat from waste that cannot be recycled.
I said in my Climate Change Action Plan that a strategy to cut carbon
emissions is essentially about cutting out waste and improving efficiency.
This strategy is exactly that – it is a call to action for London’s businesses,
whether they are large or small, and operate in the public or private sector.
The waste that London’s businesses generate and the way it is currently
disposed of makes a small but significant contribution to London’s
greenhouse gas emissions. We need to work together to minimise our
impact on climate change. Making smarter use of our resources and
reducing the amount of waste we produce has an important part to play.
After all, waste is actually a resource that has not been used productively
by a business, which has a real impact on their bottom line, through the
cost of buying the product in the first place, the cost of not using
it productively and then the added cost of disposing of it as waste.
The benefit to businesses of better managing their waste will be
economic, but the benefit to London and Londoners is far greater:
it is a cleaner, healthier environment where resources are properly valued.
This draft strategy has been published for public consultation. Its vision
will be achieved only if businesses heed its message and take action.
I want all of London’s businesses to care about how much waste they
produce and how it is managed. I invite London’s businesses to tell
me how this strategy affects them, and how they will contribute to
its implementation.
Ken Livingstone
Mayor of London
© Liane Harris