UK needs national waste strategy, science advisers say

A waste and resource strategy tied to the industrial strategy could help turn the UK’s waste into a productive resource, according to a report authored by Mark Walport when he was still the government’s chief scientific adviser.

Walport, who left the chief scientist role in November after being appointed chief executive designate of UK Research and Innovation, called on the government to change its mindset of “managing waste” to one of “increasing resource productivity”. This should be done by preventing usable materials from being thrown away, he said. The report, published on 14 December, cites the Netherlands as an example of a country that has replaced its waste strategy with a resource management one.

Walport prepared the report jointly with Ian Boyd, the chief scientific adviser to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.