That runs in a totally different direction to what we
usually hear. Politicians from other parties, and industry folk tend to view
anything green as an expensive, anti-business project. However, sustainable
approaches do not have to be a sort of martyrdom. We could, as a country, live
well by making better use of our resources in the first place. It’s also worth
noting that climate change is going to be expensive. Flooding isn’t cheap, nor
is the erosion it so often causes along with the havoc for home owners,
farmers, and businesses. Damage from high winds has a price tag, dangerously
hot weather and bitterly cold winters cost us as well. The more unpredictable
the climate becomes, the bigger the costs, on every level.
You’d think that every last ‘suit’ with an eye for the
bottom line would already be paying attention to this. With Greenhouses gasemissions hitting record highs, the need for radical change is truly urgent.
In Stroud we’re looking at how to get a circular economy
around waste. Re-using resources, rather than sending them to landfill, is much
better in terms of carbon impact than sourcing from raw materials in order to
bury them in the ground. New waste strategies, developed after 3 research
reports and extensive public consultation, will bring some real benefits when
contracts change in 2016. Green Cllr Simon Pickering has led the way in getting
food waste collected.
Stroud has a good record in terms of what we send to
landfill per person, but our percentages of waste recycled are not what they
could be. The current waste collection contract doesn’t cover food waste, but
when that changes, we’ll be moving closer to our target of recycling 60% of
waste.
Click here for more about waste in the local news.
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