From Matthew Leach, Imperial College, London
A number of readers have questioned the independence of our study comparing
the environmental implications of recycling and energy recovery options for
wastepaper. I would like to make clear that our study was funded by Britain’s
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council within their “Sustainable
Cities” programme, and we are most grateful to them for doing so.
The work on paper was initiated by my former colleagues Ausilio Bauen and
Nigel Lucas, and is now part of an ongoing project at Imperial College, London.
Our work has to date focused on conventional approaches to waste management,
looking at state-of-the-art, large-scale plants for recycling or energy
recovery.
We would be pleased to extend our analysis through cooperation with groups
proposing smaller, localised facilities which reduce some of the environmental
impacts of waste collection and transport.
