One of the great environmental challenges of the near future is going to be waste disposal. This is particularly true in the UK, where we have been depending on landfill. As there is a finite amount of suitable space in our islands, the consensus is that we can only continue burying rubbish in the ground for another ten years. Others say it is far less.

A representative of local government recently said:

Britain is the dustbin of Europe, with more rubbish being thrown into landfill than any other country on the continent. For decades people have been used to being able to throw their rubbish away without worrying. Those days are over. -- Guardian

The idea of sustainability hardly comes into play when discussing landfill sites. Although most modern sites have 'sophisticated' clay and plastic liners which are supposed to prevent nasties leaching into the surrounding groundwater, it is hard to imagine what kind of chemicals are being produced. Like a huge witches cauldron, the contents of a landfill slowly bubble away producing totally unpredictable compounds. Liquid that reaches the bottom of the landfill is considered so toxic that the only disposal route is to pour it back onto the top of the rubbish.

So to recap: we've got a bunch of unknown materials, breaking down in unpredictable ways and producing toxic liquid. This is before we've even thought about the gases produced. Landfill sites produce a large percentage of the national methane production. About the only good thing about a landfill site is that sometimes the methane can be burnt to produce energy, although contrary to the image given in the glossy marketing, it is not without an environmental cost.

To state the plainly obvious, we need to stop landfilling waste. Unfortunately a particularly British trait means that people don't actually want to help do it. Whilst the government have proposed new legislation which would allow local authorities to charge by volume, most do not want to annoy residents by imposing restrictions on waste collected. Efforts to introduce fortnightly collections produced anger from groups who see waste collection as a basic service paid for by the current high levels of local tax.

The majority of people support recycling initiatives and welcome the opportunity to take part in kerbside schemes. However, there are problems associated with this method of collection. In Summer months particularly, residents have to endure the smells, flies and maggots - all as a result of having two weeks perishable waste decomposing outside their properties. -- Campaign for Weekly Waste Collection

Of course, CWWC have a point - though perhaps not the one they are trying to make. An EU Landfill Directive already commits European governments to reducing the amount of biodegradable waste that ends up in landfill sites. We clearly need more imaginative ways to sort and collect waste by local authorities together with increased public participation and co-operation. Imagining that full waste bins can be collected and then have the contents miraculously disappear is fantasy.

We need some serious action to stop producing the waste in the first place. We then need increased and enforced recycling of household waste. Unlike in Germany, where recycling rates have been increasing, British recycling is controlled by large waste companies who often also run landfill sites. This has led to half-hearted recycling and ridiculous ideas such as sending waste plastic to developing countries for them to process and deal with the environmental consequences.

Instead of seeing waste as a problem, we also need to develop and encourage new companies that are finding new ways to use waste products - turning it from an embarrassment to a valuable resource. Reduce, reuse, recycle is an old mantra, but it is one we urgently need to apply to our daily lives if we are going to solve this problem.