CIWM welcomes the Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper
Chartered Institution of Wastes Management
CIWM has welcomed the Industrial Strategy Green Paper launched today by the Prime Minister Theresa May.
“CIWM agrees that now is an opportune time for the UK government to put forward a long term vision for its industrial strategy,” says CIWM CEO Dr Colin Church. “We welcome this Green Paper and look forward to working with government and our sector to shape it more fully. It is particularly encouraging to see resource productivity identified as important to the competitiveness and resilience of the UK economy.
“There are also important strands in the paper that are directly relevant to our sector, not least the focus on innovation and science. The UK waste and resource management sector has shown itself to be dynamic and innovative in developing new ways of deriving value from waste – both as secondary materials and energy – and has the potential to become a valuable source of feedstocks for industrial growth sectors, including the UK bioeconomy.
“We also welcome the commitment to technical education and the additional £170 million funding. CIWM and WAMITAB have long championed skills, qualifications and competence across our sector, which requires a wide range of specialisms from mechanical, civil and chemical engineering through to the life sciences highlighted for support in the paper. Not only that, but we have an important role to play in promoting more safe, sustainable and resource efficient waste management skills right across UK plc, skills that will be important to our future competitiveness. Just today, a new report from the Aldersgate Group has suggested that the UK could gain around £76 billion in gross value added by 2030 through more resource-efficient business models.
“In seeking to ‘secure the economic benefits of our move towards a low-carbon economy’, the Prime Minster and her colleagues must also not forget the important contribution that the waste and resource management sector makes to tackling climate change, both in terms of reducing the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the impact associated with the extraction and consumption of virgin raw materials. This contribution must be reflected in any strategy seeking to deliver low-carbon growth and must be planned for as part of the infrastructure upgrade that has been promised today. In addition, given its very nature, waste and resource management happens at a local as well as a national level and is an important component in the Prime Minister’s drive to secure local economic development across the UK”.
