Ecotowns should 'lead the way in waste'

New ecotown developments should lead the way in sustainable waste management, it has been suggested.

The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and the Environment Agency have claimed that ecotowns ought to be a shining example of how to create a wasteless society.

TCPA Chief Executive Gideon Amos said: "As demonstration projects to pilot zero carbon development and more sustainable ways of living, ecotowns should be leaders on minimising and extracting value from waste."

However, self build projects can also be catalyst for a wasteless society as private developers formulate their own ways to reduce and manage their waste sustainably.

Meanwhile, John Rittey, the founder of Monkey Puzzle Developments, has claimed that self build is "booming" and now could not be a better time to build as "labour is cheaper and builders are struggling to get work from larger developers".