WIN GRIFFITHS WELCOMES NEW WASTE STRATEGY

Welsh environment minister Win Griffiths has welcomed the announcement of the preparation a new government waste strategy for Wales and England.

Mr Griffiths said: 'Reducing waste, increasing recycling and ensuring that what is left is disposed of safely are critical components of a more sustainable society.

'In Wales, where we rely so heavily on landfill, we must look for more sustainable ways of managing waste, and the preparation of our new strategy will play a key role in taking that process forward.

'The strategy will build on the 1995 White Paper Making Waste Work, which was prepared by the previous government. Public consultation will begin in the spring, leading to the publication of the final strategy in autumn 1999.

'By that time, the national assembly for Wales will be in place, and it will be for the assembly to take final decisions on the way the strategy will move forward in Wales.'

NOTE

'Making Waste Work: A Strategy for Sustainable Waste Management in England and Wales' sets out the previous government's policy framework for the management of waste, identifies ways in which waste could be managed in a more sustainable way and sets a number of targets for achieving that aim.

Key targets: to reduce the proportion of controlled waste going to landfill from 70 per cent to 60 per cent by 2005; and to recover value from 40 per cent of municipal waste by 2005.

To this end, targets for household waste included: to achieve easily accessible recycling facilities for 80 per cent of households by the year 2000; to recycle or compost 25 per cent of household waste by the year 2000; and for 40 per cent of domestic properties with a garden to carry out home composting by the year 2000.

'Making Waste Work' was published in December 1995 by the Department of the Environment and the Welsh Office, and prepared the way for these Departments to draw up a waste strategy with statutory status.

A consultation paper will be published in the spring