LONDON FACES a waste management crisis within the next two decades even if Mayor Ken Livingstone's efforts to boost household rubbish recycling succeed, claims a report published this week.
The stark conclusion is contained in City Limits, a report into London's ecological system produced by the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management Environmental Body and funded by the Greater London Authority and the ICE.
Livingstone aims to boost the level of household waste recycling from the current 9% to 36% by 2020. This includes paper, glass, plastics, aluminum and compostables such as vegetable matter.
But the report predicts that even if that target is met, the mountain of unrecycled waste will keep growing due to increased output. The report predicts that the capital's total waste output will increase by 20% from 3.4Mt to 3.68Mt by 2020.
The report warns that the situation will only improve if householders recycle 100% of their waste, a rate that it admits 'is unlikely to be technically feasible'.
'This indicates that waste minimisation must be a priority for future waste management considerations, ' it says.
INFOPLUS www. citylimitslondon. com
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