Materials

More than 86 million tonnes of waste, including packaging, has been diverted from landfill due to the work of the Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap), Defra's annual report said last week.

The report said that as a result of Wrap's work, £182m had been invested in the recycling sector from commercial sources and the annual turnover of the recycling sector had reached £1.3bn.

In 2004, less than half of people in England described themselves as committed recyclers, but this rose to 64% in 2008, it reported.

But environment secretary Hilary Benn warned that people continued to consume at a rate the planet could not support.

He said the priority should be "to ensure that the resources we need and environment we enjoy continue to be available for us all, now and in the future".

Wrap's work includes the Courtauld Commitment, signed by major retailers and brand owners, which aims to design out packaging waste growth by 2008, deliver absolute reductions in packaging waste by 2010, and identify ways to tackle food waste.

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