Press Release
18 April 2017
CIWM highlights resource productivity and key role of the resource and waste management sector in its industrial strategy response
Responding to the Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper, CIWM has said it would like to see more attention paid to resource productivity and security.
“Sustainable economic growth is not just about labour productivity,” says CIWM chief executive Dr Colin Church. “The availability of resources – raw materials, water, energy, land use – will also be critical to UK industrial competitiveness and resilience and must be a cross cutting priority in the Industrial Strategy.
“The Government’s Resource Security Action Plan, published in 2012 and due for updating, noted that growing competition for resources was already having an impact on UK businesses, with 29% of profit warnings issued by FTSE350 companies in 2011 attributed to rising resource prices. Add in other risks, such as significantly increased price volatility in some commodity markets, and the potential impact of Brexit on the availability or price of material resources needed by the UK economy, and it is not hard to see why CIWM and many others will be trying to get this message across to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
“Policy making in this space must also be co-ordinated. The reliance placed by the Green Paper on Defra’s highly anticipated Defra 25 Year Environment Plan framework, which Ministers as recently as last week were promising for the current Parliament, coupled with the news of a General Election in June, should provide the necessary impetus for this important document to be published as soon as possible.”
CIWM’s response stresses the dual contribution that the resource and waste management industry can make to future UK prosperity, firstly as a dynamic sector that provides over 100 000 jobs and almost £7bn Gross Value Added to the economy, and secondly through the role it can play in improving resource productivity and efficiency in the UK through sustainable waste practices and the supply of the quality secondary raw materials and feedstocks. It highlights how the sector can help the Government to meet one of the headline aims of the new strategy, namely inclusive growth and employment, both because secondary resources derived from waste can support local economic development and because industrial growth and new housing requires appropriate waste management services and infrastructure. This potentially means more job opportunities in some of the UK’s traditional low growth/high unemployment areas.
The CIWM response also stresses that transitioning to a resource efficient, low carbon economy will require a renewed focus on ‘green skills’ as part of the strategy and cites that skills related to low carbon growth, resource productivity and efficiency are increasingly important to most professions and supply chains from engineering through to architecture and manufacturing through to retail and hospitality.
The full CIWM response can be found here
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- CIWM (Chartered Institution of Wastes Management) is the leading professional body for the waste management sector representing around 6,000 individuals in the UK and overseas. Established in 1898, CIWM is a non-profit making organisation, dedicated to the promotion of professional competence amongst waste managers. CIWM seeks to raise standards for those working in and with the sector by producing best practice guidance, developing educational and training initiatives, and providing information on key waste-related issues. More information can be found at www.ciwm.co.uk
Press contact:
Pat Jennings
Head of Policy & Communications
Tel: 01604 620426
Mob: 07912 228260
E-mail: pat.jennings@ciwm.co.uk
Building our Industrial Strategy Response