Election manifestos tackle green issues
Ahead of the upcoming General Election, an important issue for a number of voters is climate change and waste management. The major political parties have all outlined green policies in their election manifestos, the following summary of which should help you understand what the future government has planned for waste disposal and recycling in the UK.
Labour
The current Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s puts green recovery as one of its top priorities in the coming years. Labour aims to:
• Ban recyclable materials from landfill
• Encourage greener living through national introduction of smart meters and ‘pay as you save’ energy legislation
• Implement on-the-go recycling with separate bins for different recyclable materials in public places
• Increase the generation of low-carbon energy production
Conservatives
Party leader David Cameron takes a different tack on green issues to Labour, putting the responsibility for recycling in the hands of the public. He pledges to:
• Introduce a new ‘responsibility deal’ for waste producers
• Focus on reward rather than penalty schemes in order to incentivise recycling
• Cut back on government-backed environmental bodies such as WRAP
• Give sole responsibility for major waste projects to Ministers
Liberal Democrats
Leader of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg, focuses more on the use of renewable energy sources in his party’s election manifesto, although he does propose to work towards ‘zero waste’ targets through increasing recycling and the use of energy-from-waste facilities, whilst also cutting down on excess packaging .
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