The appointment of a new committee in the UK to advise the government on how to boost current recycling rates & ensure greater manufacturer responsibility towards the environment has been announced. The Dept for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said the Advisory Committee on Packaging had been restructured after the original committee stood down in February 2002. Britain is trailing the EU environmental league tables, recycling an average of just 11% household waste, well below the 49.7% achieved by Switzerland and Austria or the 48% recorded in Germany. In the last year, the UK has struggled to comply with tough new environmental legislation from the EU that aims to cut the amount of waste sent to landfill by raising recycling rates & requiring greater responsibility from manufacturers. John Turner, CE of Valpak will head the committee.
