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South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

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SEEDA's vision for tackling the challenging issue of waste is to work with key partners to promote waste as a valuable resource. SEEDA has the lead role on waste for all the Regional Development Agencies.

SEEDA is focused on encouraging organisations to recognise opportunities for waste minimisation and to champion re-use and greater recycling.

The aims of the Waste Market Development Group in SEEDA are to:

build capacity in the materials efficiency/re-use supply chains
stimulate demand for recycled materials and products
co-ordination of materials efficiency activities in the South East
promotion of business opportunities to help implement the regional Waste Management Strategy
influencing Government policy to enable effective implementation of waste directives and regulations.

In terms of the Waste Market Development Group, SEEDA works collaboratively with partners including the Environment Agency, the Regional Assembly, local authorities and commercial organisations such as Biffa Waste Services.

A critical project in this arena will be BREW – the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste programme. This is a Government initiative to help businesses become more resource efficient – in materials, energy and water- and to minimise waste despatched to landfill. SEEDA will take responsibility for co-ordination of strategic players such as the Carbon Trust, Envirowise and the regional Sustainable Business Partnerships.

SEEDA has secured funding of £550,000 a year for three years; with a role of formulating strategic resource efficiency projects and to communicate this effectively to businesses.

The amount of waste generated is still growing at some 3 million tonnes per annum and the majority of this waste is still landfilled.

However, the real incentive for moving away from waste into integrated resource management is the enormous potential for economic development – real business opportunities and job creation.

For further information, please contact the Environment Team for further information.