a) To better target and monitor ongoing and future a funding of initiatives to reduce business waste, the Department should:
• undertake a formal evaluation of the Programme in order to inform the priorities and direction of the new single delivery body;
• use the data from its proposed survey of commercial and industrial waste to improve the targeting of future initiatives and direct resources to where they are most needed; and
• identify whether in future it could monitor change more cost-effectively by, for example, identifying a cohort of key organisations to measure change in business waste over time.
b) To drive efficiency and performance from its delivery bodies the Department should:
• put targets and performance measures in place from the outset in any future funding arrangements;
• set up and validate data collection and collation arrangements, so that useful data are produced on a timely basis;
• use performance data to challenge the funded bodies effectively; and
• remind its senior officials of the need to balance demands for urgent action adequately against the risk that expenditure may not be managed effectively in these circumstances.
c) To achieve more substantial reductions in the tonnage of business waste sent to landfill, the Department should:
• set clear objectives and targets for reducing the tonnage of waste produced and the tonnage sent to landfill;
• identify opportunities for integration between its business and municipal programmes, including encouraging:
• shared recycling and treatment infrastructure where this will result in economies of scale; and
• joint collection and disposal of commercial and industrial waste; and
• task its Waste Strategy Board with monitoring and challenging the level of coordination between the municipal and business waste programmes.
d) To improve awareness of its services amongst key waste producers, the Department should:
• Draw up and implement specific engagement strategies with key organisations and business sectors, setting out the interventions that are likely to prove effective, the anticipated results, and the mechanisms for monitoring success.