Winning the war on waste
• Environment agency advises Polish colleagues on waste reduction
PORTSMOUTH, UK, June 20, 2007 -- A group of Polish waste professionals are visiting Portsmouth today to see and hear about the work being done to reduce, recycle and incinerate waste in the South East.
The Environment Agency, with support from the South East of England Regional Assembly and Hampshire County Council, has invited the group to show them how we manage waste. They will see some of the methods of reducing and managing waste, including a curbside collection of household waste for recycling and a visit to the Veolia Energy from Waste (Incineration) plant in Portsmouth.
Recycling rates in Poland are currently as low as 3% in some areas and the country is looking for help in implementing waste plans. The Environment Agency and the Assembly offered the trip to show them how the South East region has moved from a low recycling position to a nation that now recycles at least 30% of its waste.
John Gower of the Environment Agency and organiser of the event said, "We are very happy to welcome our Polish colleagues. It is great that we can help other countries to tackle the international problem of waste.
"We are recycling more and we are sending less waste to landfill. However, we still need to improve our reuse and recycling of waste and not produce so much in the first place. We are on track to meeting the South East Plan targets of recycling 55% of municipal waste by 2020, but this will only be met if everyone continues to make an effort. We still need to do more to reduce our dependence on landfills and make much wiser use of our resources."
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