Research and Policy
The background policy shaping the Sustainable Consumption and Production debate in the UK is found in the UK’s Sustainable Development Strategy, “Securing our future”.
Securing the future (5.7 MB)
The Benefits of Greener Business
© England's NorthwestThe Environment Agency has drawn some conclusions on the costs to UK manufacturing business of failing to adopt best practice methods for the productive use of resources and waste minimization.
Benefits of Greener Business Report (246 KB)
By investing in resource productivity, these businesses could save up to GBP 2.9 bn in annual operating costs, representing 5-7% of profits in 2000. Firms may underestimate the potential savings by focusing only on their waste disposal costs.
Two thirds of the identified savings come from lower purchase costs of materials that do not end up in the final product. These conclusions are based on evaluating 65 best practice case studies associated with the Government's Envirowise Programme.
Biffaward Programme on Sustainable Resource Use
The aim of the Biffaward Mass Balance programme is to provide accessible, well-researched information about the flows of different resources through the UK economy based on regions, material streams or industry sectors.
Information about material resource flows through the UK economy is of fundamental importance to the cost-effective management of resource flows, especially at the stage when those flows get labelled 'waste'.
In order to maximise the Programme's full potential, data has and continues to be generated and classified in ways that are both consistent with each other, and with the methodologies of the other generators of resource flow/ waste management data such as the models used by SCPnet.
More than 30 different mass balance projects have been funded by Biffaward. For more information on the Mass Balance UK programme please visit www.massbalance.org