Paddick is standing as the Liberal Democrat candidate for London’s Mayoral election which takes place on May 3. Part of his manifesto is to set a long-term goal for the city to become zero waste by setting tough targets for the borough’s waste authorities.

Setting out his environmental agenda to NGO Responding to Climate Change, Paddick said he wanted to “kick-start a recycling revolution” in the capital by focusing on waste prevention and increased resource efficiency.

Raising concerns that London was “falling behind” other parts of the UK on recycling rates, Paddick said: “The city creates 20m tonnes of waste a year in total, but households only recycle 32% of their waste, compared with 40% in the rest of the country.”

As part of his zero carbon drive, Paddick also intends to accelerate the roll out of loft and cavity wall insulation to London homes and force large developments to achieve Level 5 for Sustainable Homes.

On water usage, Paddick said he would “immediately tackle” leakage issues to cut down on wastage and improve the efficiency of water treatment plants across the capital.

He added: “London needs to starts adapting rapidly to the current environmental challenges facing the world. The scale of the problem means we must take real action now.”

Maxine Perella

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