Waste Prevention has been given even more emphasis in the recent 'National Waste Strategy 2007' and waste prevention targets are being considered for inclusion in the European Union’s revision of the Waste Framework Directive.

Why Prevent Waste?

Taking action on waste is essential, since we are consuming natural resources at an unsustainable rate and contributing unnecessarily to climate change.

Each year many tonnes of waste from households, has to be manged by the County and the District and Boroughs . Some of this currently ends up in landfill, where biodegradable waste generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. And much valuable energy is used up in making new products which are later disposed of, so also contributing to climate change.

What's different about the West Sussex Waste Prevention Scheme?

This Waste Prevention Advisor scheme goes quite a few steps further than recycling champions with comprehensive training.   West Sussex County Council and the District and Boroughs are working in partnership with the University of Brighton on this innovative project. The University also provide after course development for those volunteers who want to develop ideas on waste prevention for the County.

West Sussex County Council and the District and Borough Councils believe that the Waste Prevention Advisor (WPA) – Volunteers complement our Waste Prevention suite and will become increasingly important by disseminating the right message out to our residents. We believe it is important to tackle the top of the waste hierarchy by encouraging reduction and reuse as well as recycling and composting.

Although we have set targets to give tangible evidence this is only a small part of the real impact. The WPA real impact is the positive effect in changing attitudes in our communities. By allowing these knowledgeable volunteers to disseminate and pass on the correct information to friends and neighbours we expect to see a domino effect throughout our County.

Pictures:

Birds of prey are the best form of pest control at landfill sites. WPA (Volunteers) review packaging.