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MRS Philosophy

Introduction

Over the next year the future of how minerals extraction, manufacturing, reuse, recycling and disposal of waste materials is carried out in Hampshire, Southampton and Portsmouth will be decided.

Hampshire County Council and the City Councils of Portsmouth and Southampton have a statutory responsibility to produce a land use planning framework setting out how the need for all types of minerals and waste management shall be met, and policies for where facilities should be located.

In addition the three authorities have historically produced a waste strategy setting out how waste arising in Hampshire should be dealt with. This has focused upon household waste which is managed through the Project Integra Partnership and includes not only these three bodies but also all the District and Borough Councils within Hampshire.

But in recent years concern has been expressed about whether this twin approach to dealing with minerals and waste matters is appropriate to meet the needs of the Hampshire Community.

These concerns have include

  • The need to take more action to relieve the demand for virgin materials and the demand for disposal facilities

  • The need to be more active in managing reuse, recycling and recovery
  • The need to take a more integrated view of waste types not just concentrating upon municipal waste

The Material Resources Strategy (MRS) aims to chart a new course by considering material resources rather than waste. Whilst this represents a significant move forward, it is not a easy option or a quick fix. There will still be a need for traditional waste management facilities and mineral workings for the foreseeable future.

The challenge for the MRS is to chart a new approach that will minimise the need for such facilities. It will provide the context into which minerals and waste policy and local planning policy can be set. Key outputs could be

  • A new strategy to utilise waste as a resource
  • A minerals and waste development framework setting down planning policies
  • A plan for achieving societal change to enable delivery of these two objectives

 

The problem

Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton produced over 4 million tonnes of waste material last year. This includes municipal, industrial, commercial, construction and agricultural wastes.

As the economy grows the demand for materials increases and so does the amount of waste produced. This causes three main problems:

  1. It increases the demand to exploit natural resources both in Hampshire and elsewhere;
  2. environmental and economic costs associated with wasting materials which could be reused, reprocessed or recycled are perpetuated; and
  3. It increases demands for facilities and land to dispose of waste.

Traditional waste management services our throw away society. We need to change our approach to make the use of material resources more efficient and effective.

 

The Solution

It is proposed that the Material Resources approach will start tackling these issues from a different direction, recognising that waste is generated at many stages in the overall life-cycle of products and materials.

As can be seen from the diagram below, the aim is to minimise the extraction and production of primary resources by better process and product design and by maximising the use of recycled or secondary materials. This approach considers all materials and waste streams and not just municipal waste.

In the long term this approach should increase resource efficiency and lead to integrated management of material resources. This is not, however, easy to achieve. We also need to consider the immediate problem of managing the large quantities of waste we currently generate. The foundations for this approach have to be put in place now.

Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth City Council and Southampton City Council together with Project Integra are proposing to adopt this approach in the form of a Material Resources Strategy.

Diagram: Minimising Primary Resource Use and Promoting Secondary Material Uses

 

Materials Resource Strategy

The MRS will manage materials in Hampshire in an integrated, all embracing way. This will maximise the value of all materials already in use, reduce pressures on natural resources, and minimise the problems caused by waste. The MRS must be practical and sustainable and include the following:

  1. Engaging the process chain – work with all those involved with the life-cycle of materials and products at all points along the design-production-consumption-waste management chain.
  2. Establishing materials recovery systems – put systems and infrastructure in place to manage key material resource streams including the household, commercial and industrial sectors.
  3. Delivery on the ground – enable the material resources approach to be put into practice through the land-use planning system.

 

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