Sustainability and the UK Waste Management Industry

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to offer an exploratory review of the approaches to sustainability within the UK's waste management industry. The paper begins with brief outlines of the waste management industry in the UK and the growing interest in corporate sustainability. This is followed by a review of the most recent sustainability reports published by the leading waste management companies operating within the UK and the paper concludes by offering some reflections on current approaches to sustainability within the industry. More critically the authors suggest that the selected companies' commitments to sustainability are couched within existing business models centred on continuing growth and consumption and that current policies might be viewed as little more than genuflections to sustainability. The paper provides an accessible commentary on current approaches to sustainability in the waste management industry within the UK and as such it will interest professionals working in the industry as well as academics and students interested in management and business studies, resource management and sustainability.