Many countries around the world are currently trying to find new solutions to the growing problems related to household waste management. Landfilling is no longer being accepted as a sustainable method for waste disposal. Instead, the view has shifted to consider waste as a resource rather than rubbish. Simultaneously, all the environmental concerns related to landfilling have meant that an immediate response to the growing waste crisis needs to be urgently considered. In Europe, the EU has responded by launching a set of Directives which aim to limit the adverse impacts of land filling and increase diversion rates through recycling and responsible treatment of waste. These directives bound all EU countries and threaten significant fines against those which do not comply with the regulations. Performance wise, the UK is behind most of its other fellow EU countries, sending more than 75% of its municipal waste to landfill. As part of the UK, England is also burying most of its waste in landfill despite the concern over the availability of sufficient space for landfill in the future. Current statistics suggests that England's performance has improved since the implementation ofthe Waste Strategy for England and Wales in 2000. However, there continue to be growing fears that it might fail to achieve the 2013 and 2020 Landfill Directive targets. This study sought to evaluate the current household waste management system in the East of England which is one of the nine English regions. The evaluation aimed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the system prior to recommending ways for further improvements. Three methods were applied in the evaluation; a statistical analysis, semi-structured face-to-face interviews with waste managers from local authorities and private waste contractors and a SWOT analysis. The outcomes indicated that several problems existed with the current household waste management system in the region. Some require immediate attention and need to be addressed before the system can be enhanced and future targets achieved. The study was also able to offer suggestions for alternative strategies which can be applied to improve the current system. Furthermore, suggestions made in this research can potentially be considered to improve the system in other regions provided that they share similar waste management, demographic and socio-economic characteristics with the East of England.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:520437 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Hakaml, Bader A. |
| Publisher | University of East Anglia |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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