Frater, Lorraine B. --- "Sustainable Waste Management: The Challenge for Businesses in Wales" [2005] ELECD 206; in Tully, Stephen (ed), "Research Handbook on Corporate Legal Responsibility" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005)

Book Title: Research Handbook on Corporate Legal Responsibility

Editor(s): Tully, Stephen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843768203

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: Sustainable Waste Management: The Challenge for Businesses in Wales

Author(s): Frater, Lorraine B.

Number of pages: 18

Extract:

12 Sustainable waste management:
the challenge for businesses in Wales
Lorraine B. Frater




Introduction
Many businesses find the term `sustainable development' (SD) abstract, a
concept too complex to allow any connection. Yet it is one of the primary
drivers behind a substantial number of current environmental laws and poli-
cies. Current English and Welsh waste strategies identify sustainability as a
spur to innovation and an increasingly important factor in business competi-
tiveness. These strategies and other government policies aim to achieve
improved waste management practices from commercial and industrial organ-
isations by linking sustainable waste management with production and opera-
tional efficiency. The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), under its
devolved powers, is constitutionally bound to pursue sustainable development.
Section 121 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 makes Wales unique
within Europe, the section requires that economic and environmental improve-
ment must fulfil the criteria of sustainable development. This extends to the
application of its waste strategy.
Current waste management practices in Wales, however, do not comply
with this unique statutory duty. Due to the majority of Welsh companies
disposing large quantities of waste to landfill, Wales is near the bottom of the
European league in waste management. To alter this position, WAG, in
compliance with European and UK legislation has published Wise About
Waste: The National Waste Strategy for Wales (Parts One and Two) (WAG,
2002a, b), which covers wastes outlined in Section 75 of the Environmental
Protection Act, 1990 (EPA). The strategy meets the requirements for a
National ...