Environment

Joan Ruddock is languorously stretched out on a bench in the bay window of her office looking out over the Houses of Parliament. "When I first moved into my office I said I would sit here with a coffee and the newspaper every morning," she says. Sadly for her, that vision of a life of ministerial luxury has never quite come to pass.

As under-secretary of state for climate change, waste and recycling and biodiversity, Ruddock is the most powerful politician for the packaging industry. Better known in the packaging world by the rather less glamorous title of waste minister, the chemistry and botany graduate is responsible for all government policy on waste and is hugely influential in the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap).

Ruddock, who is MP for Lewisham, Deptford in south-east London, moved into her current role from the International Development Select Committee last June, at the same time as Gordon Brown became prime minister. The job has thrown her into the environmental spotlight, not least with the waste and packaging industry so high on the national media’s
current hit list.

In particular, she has come in for criticism in some packaging circles for her perceived focus on packaging as opposed to other, perhaps more serious, waste issues. But Ruddock is convinced that the focus is right, especially given the high level of public concern over the issue. People angrily confront me with this all of the time, she says. They say they want to do what’s right for the environment, but can’t because the retailers force packaging on them.

Despite this focus, Ruddock recognises that reducing packaging will not be the key to saving the planet – lifestyle issues such as vehicle emissions are a far bigger problem. Indeed, figures from Wrap state that packaging only makes up 3% of landfill.

Raising awareness
But she is unrepentant. "We know that we may need to get to the other end of the spectrum with the more difficult decisions that people need to take," she admits. "But not to respond to the things that are simpler and easier to achieve would be a very foolish thing to do."

She also has a realistic view on the need to educate the public about the purpose of packaging. "We need to explain to people that some packaging will always be necessary because it’s about food hygiene, it’s about safety and to a degree it’s about being able to carry your product in a way that is safe and convenient," she says.

Wrap, too, has been a big focus for Ruddock this year. In May, Defra cut the NGO’s budget for 2008/9 by 30% to £43.2m. The reason given at the time was that companies were increasingly coming into play in areas where previous investment by Wrap had helped generate interest. Ruddock argues the reason was the right one, as it would never be realistic to attempt to help every individual company. Instead, she says, Wrap should aim to "demonstrate what good practice would be".

In spite of its smaller budget, though, Wrap’s remit looks likely to grow. Under the Courtauld Commitment, extensive work has been carried out in reducing packaging and lightweighting products, and at the end of the year the organisation will decide if the target of stopping growth in packaging waste by 2008 has been achieved. This month, ministers met to discuss a potential shake-up of the Courtauld Commitment and Ruddock’s aim is to accelerate work in this area and potentially push the project into other areas of waste.

In terms of the supermarkets, Ruddock has been instrumental in cranking up the pressure on another target of the national media – plastic bags. She has added an amendment to Defra’s Climate Change Bill that would force certain retailers to charge for single-use carrier bags. If the amendment is approved in Parliament, it could well become law by the autumn.

She hints, though, that there is still a chance the supermarkets could avoid that legislation. Their voluntary agreement with the government to reduce the number of single-use carrier bags in the waste stream has led to 1bn being removed from the 13bn in annual circulation in the UK. Marks & Spencer, for example, has already cut its bag use by 70% by charging 5p per bag. If other retailers were to make this sort of progress then the government may not need to go to the secondary legislation stage. "It’s quite a tall order and it will really be up to them to see how they progress on this and for us to make a judgement," says Ruddock.

Thankfully, she practises what she preaches and has given up single-use carrier bags for her many "big bags" that, she says, she has rediscovered for this very purpose.

The lack of standardisation between local authorities’ recycling collections is another hot topic for Ruddock. Many industry figures compare our unregulated waste recovery system unfavourably to that in continental Europe, where recycling is much more centralised and packaging is much less of an issue. Ruddock, however, questions how justifiable it is to complain when "most people do not live in two places". In her view, the issue is one of aspirations. This is why people "want to do more", she says, and why people want to see local authorities adhering to best practice throughout the country.

Firm stance
So should local authorities be asked to standardise their recycling capabilities? Ruddock’s answer is a firm no. But they should follow best practice, she argues. "It’s my view that if everyone went forward following best practice we’d probably end up with local authorities doing very similar things."

While it would be wonderful if councils were to align their recycling activities, for the moment this appears to remain a pipedream. For now, though, the government is promoting the reuse of packaging where possible, and otherwise recycling.

Energy from waste, the other option for waste treatment – besides landfill – is also filling Ruddock’s schedule. In her London constituency, Ruddock has one of only two energy-from-waste plants in the city. She admits that local people have raised concerns over the years, not least when a white powder appeared over local properties and people immediately blamed the plant. "It turned out to be a cement crusher, which had illegally set up and operated in some back yard and blown all over," she explains.

This incident led Ruddock to investigate the broader concerns about energy from waste and a health impact assessment was carried out by the local Primary Care Trust – and nothing was found. "I think previous environment ministers have been on record saying that Guy Fawkes Night produces more dioxins," she says with a smile. "Waste plants of any kind tend to produce objections, but they are absolutely essential. We shouldn’t be afraid of them."

The Waste Strategy 2000 predicted energy-from-waste plants would handle a quarter of all waste by 2020. Ruddock says that the figure currently stands at around 11%. But £2bn of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) credits for waste infrastructure, which will allow local authorities to develop recycling, energy from waste and even anaerobic digestion plants, could change all that. "It’s possible that by 2020 the 25% prediction will be met, but nobody is quite certain as it depends on what is built," she says.

What is certain is that Ruddock will stay in the packaging industry spotlight for as long as she stays in her job. With the plethora of issues under her remit, it is not surprising that she has not yet had the chance to sit down for that coffee and newspaper breakfast.

But if that coffee comes in a takeaway paper cup it will remind her of the importance of packaging in her world.

JOAN RUDDOCK FACTS
• Gordon Brown appointed her as Defra minister responsible for climate change, biodiversity and waste in June 2007 upon his election to office
• She joined Defra from the International Development Select Committee
• In opposition Ruddock was a front bench spokesperson on both transport and environmental protection
• Ruddock has been MP for Lewisham, Deptford since 1987
• She gained national prominence as chairperson of CND in the early 1980s
• She studied botany and chemistry at Imperial College, London

RUDDOCK ON…
Wrap
"I think that we are very satisfied in our discussions with Wrap that they are able to deliver the government’s priorities. The Love Food Hate Waste campaign has obviously had a huge impact and there will be lots more work to do on that."

Energy-from-waste plants
"If there is one criticism to be made about what happens in this country to date it is that we haven’t had sufficient heat recapture from incineration plants, and we want to encourage that in a future build."

Landfill tax
"We are raising the landfill tax year-on-year so as to discourage further disposal to landfill."

Packaging
"I’ve always been concerned about packaging and I’ve tried complaining about it in the past. It hasn’t been at all successful. I complained formally to some sort of packaging council and they wrote me a very nice letter explaining why they have to have all the packaging and not that they would reduce it. I wasn’t very pleased."

Essential requirements
"We did feel very concerned about this and David Miliband last year did write to the commission to ask for a review of the essential packaging requirements. They said they would review it, but again we’ve seen very little progress on that so that is a frustration. But I think rather than wait for Brussels, dialogue with the retailers is the way forward."

Promoting packaging
"I think the packaging industry could offer a lot of information to the public asking them whether they have noticed the work they have done. They could say have you noticed? We have been making an effort, we have been responding to you. All these would be good things."