Each year we produce huge quantities of waste over 100 million tonnes from households, commerce and industry. Most of this waste is landfilled.
Landfill can be a wasted opportunity, and produces greenhouse gases.
We have agreed with our European partners tough targets to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. This strategy describes our vision for managing waste and resources better. It sets out the changes needed to deliver more sustainable development. We must tackle the quantity of waste produced, breaking the link between economic growth and increased waste. If this growth rate continues we will need nearly twice as many new waste management facilities by 2020 as we would if the amount of waste stayed constant.