Key metrics for supporting national and local government waste policy improvements

Dr Eleni Iacovidou & Professor Andrew Brown

Responsive Mode Impact Fund

The UK Government is committed to promoting sustainable management of wastes and increasing the recovery, reuse and recycling of valuable materials; an opportunity that is currently missed. Better management of resources is essential for economic and social prosperity and increased quality of life. A collaboration between the School of Civil Engineering, the Leeds University Business School and Defra will apply ‘CVORR’ research, recognising the importance of socio-political provisioning systems, to aid the selection of metrics to assess resource recovery systems, using the plastic packaging system as a case study. The project will:

• Apply the CVORR approach to uncover the social/behavioural, economic, environmental and technical
  drivers and the role of key actors in the production, use and end-of-life management of plastic packaging,
  and identify metrics that can be used to support multi-dimensional valuation of the plastic packaging
  system;
• Aid the selection of key metrics for the plastic packaging system evaluation using the CVORR metrics selection framework, supporting waste policy changes that generate long-term impact in the UK. This will be used to co-produce a report with Defra supporting public policy improvements and processes at national and local government, helping the UK become a “zero avoidable waste” economy by 2050

For more information see the report - Plastic packaging - how do we get to where we want to be