North East Plan to Reduce Landfill Waste Launched

Friday saw the launch of the long awaited North East Resource Management Plan by the North East Sustainable Resources Board (NESRB). The plan is, in essence, a strategy for treating the region’s landfill waste as a valuable resource with the aim of creating jobs, new business opportunities, reducing landfill waste and improving business profits.

The aim to cut down more than 2.6 million tonnes of waste materials sent to the region’s landfill sites (around £30 million) would, according to the NESRB, see the North East leading the UK in a low-waste economy. The ten-year plan sets out compelling evidence for the need for change and suggests ways of achieving this. It also demonstrates how business can benefit and how both jobs and new business opportunities will arise from it.

The original scoping document released in the lead up to the launch, states “By grasping these new opportunities in sustainable resource management, the North East can create and sustain new ‘green collar’ jobs, reduce carbon emissions, reduce dependence upon virgin resources, and save money for businesses and people.”

The document also points out that much of the North East’s waste is transported to other parts of the UK and abroad for processing showing that it is viewed as a valuable resource elsewhere but not in the North East.

Launched at the Hilton Hotel, Gateshead, the event also doubled as a networking exhibition and featured promotional stands from some of the North East’s leading businesses, key regional figures and interest groups.