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Environmental and Sociological Factors

Outline the areas the DECC is working with communities, business and government.
- reduce harmful emissions to air, land and water
- reduce the number of significantly contaminated sites
- reduce the exposure of the community and the environment to chemicals, radiation, noise, dust, waste, odour and vibration
- encourage the community to connect with, and enjoy, the environment - to maintain and improve their physical and mental health
List the Environmental Issues for which the DECC is responsible.
- Climate change
- Water
- Reporting pollution
- Air
- Noise
- Contaminated land
- Chemicals and pesticides
- Hazardous materials
- Environment protection licenses
- Pests and weeds
- Waste and resource recovery
Outline how the use of resources and the amount of waste generated by manufacturing goods and providing services can be reduced.
- improved management of materials, processes and operations
- waste minimisation, including waste avoidance, reuse and recycling
- careful design and selection of products and services
- optimisation of processes, operations and resource usage through appropriate choice of technologies and design.

Briefly outline the goals of the strategy.
Waste avoidance and resource recovery goals and target are:
- preventing and avoiding waste
- increasing recovery and use of secondary materials
- reducing toxicity in products and materials
- reducing litter and illegal dumping
Write a definition for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
EPR means that producers should be physically or financially responsible for the environmental impacts of their products throughout their life cycle. This includes both the 'upstream' impacts from their choice of materials and the manufacturing processes they use, and the 'downstream' impacts associated with the use and disposal of products.
List the 'wastes of concern' that producers have a responsibility to address beyond just manufacture.
Wastes of concern are:
- Computers
- Mobile phones
- Office papaer
- Paint
- Plastic bags
- Televisions
- Tyres
- Agricultural and veterinary (Agvet) chemicals
- Agvet chemical containers
- Batteries
- Cigarette butts
- End of life vehicle residuals
- Other electrical products
- Packaging
- Polyvinyl Chloride
- Treated timber
- Used oil and lubricants

Some of the sociological issues raised are :

the effect on employment in the local community
cultural issues of the local indigenous people
positive and negative effects on tourism in the area
the visual impact ('eyesore') of the industry and the increased traffic in the area