Waste not want not - States Assembly

Option (b): incentives for
“green” products
6.23 Green products are, in the broadest sense,
those that have an environmental benefit and
can range from unleaded petrol and energyefficient
light bulbs to products made from
recycled materials. The European Commission’s
Green Paper on Integrated Product Policy
emphasised the potential role for economic
instruments to promote green products. 82 There
are a number of incentives that could be
applied to increase demand for ‘green’
products.
6.24 These are:
●
●
●
●
taxes on ‘non-green’ products to reflect
negative externalities;
subsidies for ‘green products’ 83 to reflect
positive externalities;
differential VAT rates on products according
to their environmental characteristics; 84 and
market incentives to promote green products
such as eco-labelling.
Recommendation 4:
HMT and DEFRA should consider the case for
applying incentives such as economic
instruments to encourage environmentallyfriendly
products. This could include
differential product charges and incentives
such as VAT reductions.
Option (c): removing
regulatory barriers
BSI Standards
6.25 BSI Standards 85 have been cited as a
potential barrier to the use of more recycled
materials by a number of stakeholders. BSI does
not currently have a specific policy on the use of
recycled materials in its Standards. However, BSI
are taking action in some areas. For example, in
addition to their work with WRAP to produce a
Standard for composted material (see Box 20),
they are producing a suite of Standards for
material recovery and for the use of recycled
plastics material as packaging.
Further work is required to evaluate the case for
applying these in the UK, in particular:
Recommendation 5:
DTI should also work with DEFRA, WRAP,
industry and the BSI Group to assess what
● the gains of switching demand to alternatives
more can be done to promote the use of
i.e. whether the benefits would outweigh the
secondary resources where appropriate
economic and administrative costs;
through BSI Standards. Where practical, they
● the sensitivity of demand in response to price
signals;
should review areas of standardisation which
may be unnecessarily blocking the use of
recycled goods; and consider whether an
● what is a clear and workable distinction
affirmative policy on the use of recycled
between green and non-green products and
materials in BSI Standards might be
how this might change over time; and
appropriate.
● potential infringement of international trade
rules.
82
European Commission Green Paper on Integrated Product Policy, (2001)
83
Proposal would have to be compatible with the single market
84
Any changes in VAT are subject to renegotiations of the EU VAT Directive which is due to be reformed at the start of 2003
85
The British Standards Institution is a UK national body that facilitates standards development in support of public policy
ECONOMIC AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
67