The Framework Directive on Waste (75/442/EEC, as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC) requires that Member States of the EU produce a National Waste Strategy setting out their policies on the disposal and recovery of waste. The directive is implemented in the UK by the Environment Act 1995, which sets out the objectives of the UK National Waste Strategy. These are as follows:

• to ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health and without using processes or methods that could harm the environment;
• to establish an integrated and adequate network of waste disposal installations, taking account of the best available technique not entailing excessive costs (BATNEEC)
• to ensure self sufficiency in waste disposal
• to encourage the prevention or reduction of waste production and its harmfulness
• to encourage the recovery of waste by means of recycling, reuse or reclamation, and the use of waste as a source of energy (Environment Act 1995).

Following the adoption of the strategy requirements, the British Government published a strategy proposal in December 1995 for the sustainable management of waste in England and Wales, entitled Making Waste Work (Department of the Environment and Welsh Office 1995). This document set out the Government's waste management policies by building upon the ideas set out in the Government's Sustainable Development Strategy (published in January 1994). The proposed strategy adopted three key objectives:

• to reduce the amount of waste produced
• to make the best use of what waste is produced
• to choose waste management practices that minimise the risk of immediate and future environmental pollution and harm to human health (Department of the Environment and The Welsh Office 1995).

In January 1998, the Minister for the Environment announced a review of the objectives set out in Making Waste Work and issued a consultation document in June 1998 called Less Waste: More Value (DETR and the Welsh Office 1998). The aim was to establish a public view on the management of waste. Responses to Less Waste: More Value were used to inform and direct the development of a draft Waste Strategy for England and Wales. This draft strategy, called A Way with Waste (DETR 1999a), was published in June 1999, and set out various non-mandatory goals for future waste management within England and Wales.

During 2000 and 2001, a finalised waste strategy was published for England and Wales, as well as separate strategies for Scotland and Northern Ireland. These were produced after consultation documents about objectives were released, such as Less Waste: More Value. The status of waste management strategies for each country is shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Status of Waste Management Strategies in the UK

COUNTRY	STATUS
England	Waste Strategy 2000 for England and Wales launched May 2000.
Wales	Managing Waste Sustainably, a consultation paper produced July 2001. Consultation to this document will end on 5 October 2001.
Scotland	National Waste strategy for Scotland launched October 1999, after consultation in May 1999.
Northern Ireland	Waste Strategy launched 20 March 2000.

A Way with Waste stresses that the National Assembly for Wales retains its ability to choose a separate or joint strategy with England, and the feasibility of a separate strategy is still being considered. Proposals suggest that a Welsh strategy would set out the options for Wales, but also link overarching strategies to Waste Strategy 2000 for England and Wales (National Assembly for Wales 2001).

The main themes of the UK National Waste Strategies have developed from the concept of sustainable development (see Sustainable Waste Management). The way in which waste is managed can impact on the degree to which the aims of sustainable development can be achieved (DETR 1999a). The national waste strategies have sought to provide a policy framework that can address the concept of sustainable development, and therefore promote a more sustainable and integrated approach to waste management (Williams 1998; SEPA 1999).

All of the National Waste Strategies acknowledge common key principles, which should be considered in taking waste management forward in a sustainable way. These principles are outlined below.

The best practicable environmental option (BPEO) was defined in 1998 by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution as "the outcome of a systematic consultative and decision making procedure, which emphasises the protection and conservation of the environment across land, air and water. The BPEO procedure establishes, for a given set of objectives, the option that provides the most benefits, or least damage, to the environment as a whole, at an acceptable cost, in the long term as well as the short term" (Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution 1988).

The waste hierarchy is a conceptual framework developed over the last two decades, and its principles are derived from the EU Fifth Action Programme for the Environment (Official Journal of the European Communities 1993). The hierarchy suggests that:

• the most effective environmental solution may often be to reduce the generation of waste
• where further reduction is not practicable, products and materials can sometimes be re-used, either for the same or a different purpose
• failing these options, value should be recovered from waste through recycling, composting or energy recovery
• only if none of the above offer an appropriate solution should the waste be disposed of (DETR 1999a)

It is proposed in the draft national strategies that the waste hierarchy should be applied when assessing the BPEO (DETR 1999a; SEPA 1999).

Under the Waste Framework Directive (75/442/EEC, as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC), National Waste Strategies should reflect the 'proximity principle'. This principle requires that waste is managed or disposed of as close as possible to the point at which it is generated, thus reducing pollution from transportation (Williams 1998). This principle is closely related to the 'self-sufficiency principle' included in the Framework Directive on Waste. The latter states that EU Member States should take appropriate measures to provide an integrated network of disposal installations adequate to enable the EU to become self-sufficient in waste treatment and disposal (Williams 1998; SEPA 1999).

The Government's policies in respect of waste management planning are set out in planning policy guidance notes (PPGs). PPG23, published in July 1994, gave guidance on the relevance of pollution controls to the exercise of planning functions in England, and set out policies in respect of waste management (Department of the Environment and Welsh Office 1994). The waste management elements of PPG23 were replaced by PPG10 in October 1999 (DETR 1999b).

These guidance notes must be taken into account by local planning authorities as they prepare their own development plans for waste, and may be material to decisions on individual planning applications (DETR 1999b). The preparation of development plans is governed by the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and the Planning and Compensation Act 1991. Development plans for waste should provide a clear guide to the waste management industry and to the public on the land-use policies of the Waste Planning Authority (WPA) for managing waste in its area (DETR 1999b). WPA refers to those local authorities with responsibility for land-use planning control over waste management. County councils normally produce the plan in non-metropolitan areas, with metropolitan areas being covered by a Unitary Development Plan (Williams 1998).

One important provision introduced by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 was the requirement for the preparation of Waste Local Plans. These plans are prepared by district councils (see The Regulators), and provide more detailed consideration of the preferred location for waste treatment and disposal. As such, development plans for waste and Waste Local Plans form the backbone of land use planning procedures for waste treatment and disposal facilities in the UK (Williams 1998).