WEN welcomes the position of waste minimisation at the the top of the agenda for waste management in London in the Mayor's Municipal Waste Management Strategy, Rethinking Rubbish in London but is disappointed at a lack of funds or targets to back it.

The Mayor recognises that recycling may often only clear space in the bin for other rubbish (4B 10), so why does he not divert some of the £24.9 million from recycling to practical waste reduction initiatives such as real nappies?

WEN is pleased to see real nappy promotion used as a prime example for waste reduction (4B 25), and hopes that nappy initiatives are the first of the high profile waste reduction pilots to be endorsed (proposal 14).

WEN backs the Mayor's rejection of any more incinerators for London and the proposal to create a single waste disposal authority for London - a London-wide problem needs a London-wide solution.

As the current contractual waste disposal arrangements for 21 of the 33 London boroughs act as a disincentive towards waste reduction, charges being levied on a per capita basis as opposed to per tonne, WEN welcomes the Mayor's move to change by consensus and urges local authorities to get on board.

WEN welcomes the development of a Waste Reduction and Re-use Programme for London and hopes that we can participate.

ENDS

For further information contact Elizabeth Hartigan or Liz Sutton,
Women's Environmental Network, PO Box 30626, London E1 1TZ
Telephone: 020 7481 9004 or 0771 886 5009 Email: nappies@wen.org.uk