Defra outlines plans to tackle C&I waste

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has acknowledged that more data on commercial and industrial (C&I) waste is needed as it prepares plans on how to tackle the waste stream.
Speaking at the Futuresource conference last Thursday (June 11), Roy Hathaway, head of waste regulation and business waste at Defra, said that "the data we have is very long in the tooth", with the last survey being undertaken in 2002.
Mr Hathaway said that more attention should be paid to C&I waste as the 2002 figures showed that 24% of all waste in the UK came from commerce and industry, although he added this may have changed since the survey was done.
He stressed that C&I waste should have the same amount of attention paid to recycling and reducing it as municipal waste currently does and claimed it was important for C&I waste to be treated using the 'reduce, reuse, recycle' waste hierarchy.