Unrealistic targets will hit UK performance on packaging waste

摘要

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." This quote is usually attributed to hapless US vice-president Dan Quayle, but it has often summed up the UK's attitude to environmental targets. We have been able to avoid the embarrassment of failure in 13 of the 14 years of the Packaging Waste Regulations. But this has been achieved by either ensuring we had the means of meeting targets before they were set or by fudging things when failure became an option.