There was an unmistakeable buzz at this week’s Futuresource conference organised by CIWM and ESA. Much of this was generated by the prospect of new Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman using the event to give her first set piece speech on waste reduction and resource efficiency issues. The speech got everyone talking. There was a repeat of the Government’s aspiration to be the “greenest ever”, there was a commitment to moving towards zero waste through best use of resources, and there was the announcement of a review of all waste policies to help the UK move “further and faster” towards zero waste. I will be making sure that WRAP makes a full contribution to that debate. I gather we can expect initial findings in the Spring.

I was struck by two key themes in the Secretary of State’s speech which chimed loudly with our approach at WRAP. She said there were big economic as well as environmental gains for businesses, families and ultimately UK plc to avoiding waste in the first place and making sure that we extracted value from whatever waste we couldn’t avoid. She also made the point that moving to zero waste could not be left to one body or sector – it would need partnerships between Government, business, councils and citizens.

These two themes lay at the heart of a presentation on partnerships by our chairman Peter Stone in a later session. Peter gave some pretty stark examples of councils which had been able to achieve significant economic gains by working closely with others - either other councils in consortia, with retailers or in that most critical of all relationships for them: with their local council tax payers. At a time when money is tight, the cost savings or extra revenue those partnerships deliver are not to be sneezed at.

My hunch is that with cash tight and investment difficult to unlock, we are going to see some pretty innovative ideas coming through, particularly in the area of public private partnerships.

As for the Government’s Waste Policy Review – with so much changing , with tough Government targets, and with the need to meet those international obligations getting closer by the day it is absolutely right to do a check that we know the levers we want to pull, we know how to pull them, and that they are properly attached.