The UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is responsible for the UK’s policy and regulations on environmental, food and rural issues. At a recent event entitled “Resourcing the Future Conference 2015”, Rory Stewart, the DEFRA secretary made a very strong statement about the UK and Recycling.

Rory Stewart stated, “We really want to make the United Kingdom the very best country in the world for recycling. I’d like people in 20 years’ time, sitting around in grisly conferences in Australia or Austria or Canada, to say if you want to look at a country that is really leading the world, you should look at the United Kingdom.”

The European Union (EU) has been promoting Circular Economy and how we can make it work, Mr Stewart showed his support for this project and said he has great ambitions to make it work. In fact, DEFRA is working very hard to take the European Commission’s proposal and make them even more ambitious for the UK.

Waste Crime & Waste Management

My Stewart took the opportunity to talk about waste crime and how we as a nation need to deal with this growing problem. He also warned that we need to ensure resources are managed well and on the benefits that good waste management practices can bring to society.

Waste Sector is doing well

It was a breath of fresh hear to hear someone praising the waste sector, Rory Stewart said, “Over the last two decades has been due to your determination and your leadership all of you, not just people in the suits in this room but 100,000 nearly people across the United Kingdom …. All of you from the street level right the way through to the fanciest bits of technology are making the United Kingdom a real global leader in this field.”

You can see video highlights of Rory Stewarts peach here: http://bcove.me/fxz0ljvo