Waste and resource management
Jeff Cooper
Abstract
The major influence on the way the UK Government legislates for the control of solid waste has been the European Union (EU) and, despite no longer being part of the EU, this influence will last for the coming decade and beyond because the UK had signed up to many policies and legislative requirements before it had left the EU. For waste and resource management waste prevention is the key priority. Legislative provision for the collection and disposal of waste in the UK before and during the 19th century was extremely patchy. Collection of waste is the essential first step in low- and middle-income countries to establish basic public health protection for waste management. The directive stemmed from the introduction of legislation covering packaging waste introduced in Germany in 1991, which set the agenda for the whole of Europe. The Waste Framework Directive set a legal obligation for Member States to adopt waste prevention programmes.