In anticipation of the launch of Defra’s Waste Prevention Programme for England, Eunomia published its own waste prevention ‘wish-list’. The short document presents five measures that would spread “a little more joy and a lot less waste”:
- “Pay As You Throw” charging for waste collections;
- a levy on all single-use carrier bags;
- establishing a network of drinking water fountains;
- introducing a food waste hierarchy into law; and
- setting local authority reuse targets.
The measures illustrate the potential for wider benefits, especially positive social impacts that can result from waste prevention.
In addition to reducing waste, the five measures proposed in the wish-list would bring about:
- improvements to local environmental quality from reduced littering;
- reduced levels of plastic litter entering the marine environment;
- increased resilience to future heatwaves;
- reduced food poverty impacts; and
- improved wellbeing for some of the most vulnerable people in society
