According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the waste sector could be the key to an ‘affordable’ strategy in reducing the threat of disastrous environmental and economic problems potentially resulting from climate change.
The OECD’s 2008 Environmental Outlook report warns that global greenhouse gases could increase 37% by 2030, and 52% by 2050, under current worldwide government policies. However, it also claims that air pollutants could be reduced by around 33%, and the growth of greenhouse gas emissions limited to just 12% if the global economy introduces policies costing only 1% of GDP.
Priority measures recommended by the report include waste charges, eco-labelling, green taxes and polluter-pay systems. It also points the finger at the need for more stringent controls in building construction, to reduce waste and thus increase efficiency (although, isn’t that what the new SWMP legislation, introduced last month, is intended to do?)
The general thinking behind the report’s conclusions, as explained by OECD secretary-general, Angel Gurría at the launch of the report in Oslo, is that wasteful operations should be heavily taxed by governments. Mr Gurría said: “Policies should focus on pricing the ‘bad’, rather than on subsidising the ‘good’.”
Addressing globally poor standards of hazardous waste management, Gurría spoke of “environmental issues which are not well managed, are in a bad or worsening state, and which require urgent attention.”
