Its new report is entitled ‘No Time to Waste’ and it aims to provide a clear narrative of the resource and waste challenges facing the UK and globally and six solutions the charity believes Government, businesses and people need to work together to become more resourceful.

Keep Britain Tidy has said that it is keen to stress the urgency of the problem and the need for Government, businesses and the public to work together to prevent waste and be more resourceful.

Traditionally known as an organisation founded and active in litter prevention and clean-up this may be viewed as a departure from its core business. However, since its merger with the charity Waste Watch it has been increasingly working on waste and natural resource challenges.

The Keep Britain Tidy discussion paper highlights a series of waste and resources challenges that need to be addressed.

It said that “wastefulness remains the order of the day” and needs to be tackled, it also states that recycling is flatlining in England and “we are not measuring the right things”.

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Phil Barton said: “Whilst our reputation for litter is built on our belief that where we live matters, our passion to tackle wasteful behaviour is born of our belief that how we live matters even more.

“Clear evidence shows that we are living beyond our means on a planet, using resources we will never be able to replace. We, governments, businesses and people urgently need to change our ways to stop being wasteful and shift as a nation to become resourceful. No Time to Waste offers our first contribution as a charity to this debate and we welcome views and suggestions as our strategy to end waste develops.”

Speaking about the report, CIWM deputy chief executive Chris Murphy added: “We are pleased to see this discussion paper address key waste and resource issues and challenge the reader to reduce resource use and make recycling commonplace.

“CIWM supports much of the thrust of this document in that it calls for waste prevention to become a priority, for organisations such as KBT, CIWM, Environmental Services Association (ESA) and Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to work together and there must be a change in how we view and manage resources and waste.

“We further support the links with the design sector to ensure products on the market make use of secondary materials, are energy and resource efficient and are designed with their second life or remanufacture in mind.”

Liz Gyekye

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