01 June 2007
Having a 'greener' home hasn't always been something people prioritise, and the stresses and strains of everyday life mean that even the simplest thing - like recycling - can get overlooked. However, being environmentally friendly in the 21st century is not something that you can ignore.
The proposed introduction next month of the Home Information Pack (HIP) for people marketing property with four or more bedrooms, coupled with new EU Directives on waste, will mean that not being 'green' will cost you money.
Your home, and how energy efficient it is, has a huge impact on the environment. Nearly 30% of the UK's energy is wasted. Not only does this cost households thousands of pounds that could be better spent elsewhere, the carbon dioxide produced through heating, lighting and powering our homes represents over a quarter of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions, with the average household creating about six tonnes (of carbon dioxide) every year.
The much-publicised and problematic HIP, among other documents, will contain a certificate that rates the energy efficiency of your home - although, as we have seen, things can change at the last minute. At the time of writing, energy inspections will be mandatory from August when selling a house with four or more bedrooms. Recently, ministers have used the Energy Performance Certificate to justify the packs' existence, claiming they would persuade homeowners to make their property more energy-efficient, thus tackling climate change and, ultimately, reducing energy bills.
Your property will be given a rating for both energy efficiency and environmental impact, with 'A being very efficient and `G' being very inefficient. With the average home expected to fall into the 'D' to `E' ratings, the report will indicate what rating the property could expect to get if all the energy-efficient methods are installed. In theory, buyers may be able to offer less money if your property is not energy-efficient.
So, apart from having to make your home more energy-efficient, what about the actual waste it produces? The UK dumps more household waste into landfill than any other EU state, and unless local authorities can reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, the cost will be passed on to householders. Standard landfill tax, which is currently £24 per tonne, will continue to increase until it reaches £35 per tonne in the medium to long term, providing plenty of incentive to local authorities to make householders more waste efficient. Furthermore, at the end of May, the government issued a strategy for England to deal with the UK's commitments under the EU Directive on Waste. These include aims to prevent Waste from Electronic and Electrical Equipment by promoting the collection, re-use and recycling of such things as computers, televisions and white goods, and also addresses packaging waste, end-of-life vehicles and the disposal of batteries. The strategy includes various good ideas to reduce the environmental problems we have today.
The government has specific targets it must reach, and private individuals will have to play their part by reducing household waste immediately. The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has confirmed that it will penalise local authorities for every tonne of biodegradable waste sent to landfill in excess of its allowance. Household waste must be reduced to 12.2 million tonnes by 2020, which will mean a drastic change in our attitude to recycling and a massive alteration in the way food and other items are packaged. However, it is encouraging to that, last year, the British public recycled four times more household waste than they did eight years ago.
There are other things we can do to ensure less of our waste ends up in landfill sites. For example, bringing less packaging into our home will mean we have less to throw away!
There are also tentative plans to introduce financial incentives to encourage us to recycle. These will not be money-raising exercises for local authorities but, instead, one suggestion is that, if householders take steps to recycle, compost and reduce waste overall, they could receive a rebate from their local authorities. Homeowners who do not could pay more.
DEFRA predicts that the financial incentive schemes could deliver a net national cost saving of £94 million per year, and the increased recycling could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by between 500,000 and 1 million tonnes a year.
So, with more and more opportunities to recycle, it's really a question of when, rather than if, you start recycling.
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