All this week (21st – 28th November 2010) is the catchily titled European Week for Waste Reduction. Its primary aim is to raise awareness on waste issues with large numbers of European citizens, to highlight best practise best practise examples around the EU and encourage behavioural change.
The project runs for 3 years and is supported by the European Commission until 2011. Participation this year is due to be quite good with 4231 ‘actions’ planned with 334 in the UK alone.
Not a bad effort. However I have personally found it very difficult to find any particular examples of these ‘actions’, and it is that which I find strange. Don’t let my cynicism lead you to believe that I am not behind the issue, I am 100% behind it and I believe environmental sustainability and public awareness is a key issue. My main gripe is if this is yet another example of ‘greenwash’ from the bodies in the Commission, where a good idea is seized upon and used for a piece of failed policy or scheme. A previous example of this was the EU legislation on WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) from 2007. This has been a dreadful wasted opportunity in terms of recycling and the slew of paperwork that brokers can put in front of manufacturers and producers means that very few questions are asked exactly where the items are going! On top of that the policing authority of the directive, the Environment Agency has a very poor record of the total amount of electronic waste being recycled, with an estimated 50% being potentially to sub-standard treatment inside or outside the EU and has not once (within my research) taken one punitive measure against anyone.
Greenwash and its relation to the public awareness are sometimes counter-productive in our continued effort to make our societies greener and cleaner, but we must be careful that we are not being trained to accept the status quo, and push for continued improvement and greater awareness. If you are someone that is taking part in an ‘action’ this week, then I take my hat off to you for your effort. I shall be providing a brief presentation and training on environmental and waste issues at work, that shall be my action. What’s yours?
By Tim Davies | Righttrack’s Environmental Advisor