Empowered women to protest about excess packaging and persuaded a major supermarket to rethink its packaging strategy.

This later became the Waste Minimisation Act.

The first report to quantify the amount of disposable nappies produced and the cost to local authorities of disposal. Some council’s then started to promote real nappies as part of their waste minimisation work.

The Waste Minimisation Act, which became law in November 1998, allows local authorities to "do or arrange for the doing of, anything which in its opinion is necessary or expedient for the purpose of minimising the quantities of controlled waste, or controlled waste of any description, generated in its area".

The intention behind the Act was to clear up any legislative uncertainty about whether councils could actually carry out initiatives to reduce the amount of waste (as opposed to recycle it).

For more information about the Act, please visit the Department for Food and Rural Affairs

Shared Advantage was designed to show councils and communities how to work in partnership and use the Waste Minimisation Act to reduce waste.

Included a seminar for local authorities about waste prevention.

A three-year project at Old Spitalfields Market in East London that looked at ways to make the market's waste management as green as some of the vegetables on sale! The project inspired similar activities around the country and was used as a case study for several publications.

A guide to greening a social space, based on our experience at the markets. To order see our Publications and Resources list or call WEN. Price £4.

If you would like more detailed information about past projects, please call our Waste Prevention Officer on 020 7481 9004