ABSTRACT
In the early 1990s, the UK Government committed itself to encouraging waste minimization, promoting recycling and energy recovery from waste, increasing standards for waste disposal and reducing litter (Environmental Protection Act (EPA), 1990; HM Government, 1990). Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) was to be used to promote waste minimization and a recycling target was set requiring 25 per cent of household waste to be recycled by the year 2000 (50 per cent of the estimated 50 per cent recyclable content of household waste). This policy was nominally given added impetus by the broad commitment of local authorities to Local Agenda 21. In the context of sustainable waste management, Local Agenda 21 called upon local authorities to decrease their dependence on landfill disposal of waste, and to prioritise the reduction of consumption, followed by minimizing the generation of waste, reuse, recycling, recovery of energy, and finally disposal to properly engineered landfills.
