Welsh Labour’s Environment Minister Jane Davidson has welcomed the publication of a report that links high recycling rates to the creation of new jobs.
The More Jobs, Less Waste report published yesterday by Friends of the Earth shows that over 50,000 jobs would be created UK-wide if the UK as a whole reached the 70 per cent recycling and composting target being adopted in Wales by 2025.
Wales’ ambitious targets are set out in the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government’s Towards Zero Waste strategy, which was launched in June this year. Wales has seen the largest increase in recycling rates in the past decade of any country in the UK, and is the first to publish detailed delivery documents outlining how the 70 per cent recycling rate will be achieved.
Figures have already shown that recycling 100,000 tonnes of waste can create up to 250 jobs as opposed to 20 to 40 in the case of incineration and approximately 10 land-filling. This is why earlier this month the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government announced £1 million funding towards a mixed plastics recycling facility run as a social enterprise, which will create new jobs as well as diverting waste from landfill and developing the market for recyclate in Wales.
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