4.5 Waste Prevention

In order to realise significant levels of non-MSW prevention a co-ordinated effort with government, government agencies and industry is fundamental. There will be a requirement for further regulatory and economic instruments, increased education and awareness and other measures to stimulate waste prevention activity. Waste-prevention tools including pre-product design, changes to management and production processes and the development of clean or waste-less technologies will require to be undertaken at national and company level.

Due to the exceptionally high costs of transporting and disposing of waste in the Western Isles, the potential adverse economic impact of increasing non-MSW is disproportionately high. Conversely, the benefits of waste prevention are of particular importance and value to such a remote area with a fragile and declining economic base.

There is significant opportunity to get value from waste materials through reuse and refurbishment. Successful reuse and refurbishment schemes can also provide employment opportunities. Barriers to facilitating reuse and refurbishment opportunities exist. The most common is the difficulty in making the connection between the waste producer and any potential users of the waste. ‘Waste Exchange’ is a system where the waste of one individual can be considered the resource of another. Schemes of this type make connections between waste producers and potential users of the waste. While there are examples of waste exchanges in the UK, there are none currently operating in the Western Isles area. It may be possible to establish a local service or link into a nationally developed service.

However, the AWP process has experienced difficulty engaging non-MSW producers (although this may at least in part be due to the current focus on MSW). The need to address this has been recognised by the WSAG and links with industry sectors are being developed. These links will become increasingly important as the AWP moves towards developing non-MSW BPEO.

Action 23
Investigate potential for a Western Isles Business Waste Prevention initiative.