2011 is going to be challenging – there's no doubt about that – but where there are challenges, there will be innovation, progress and success, which is why I'm optimistic about the year ahead.
At WRAP we're working on our new business plan, which will kick-off on 1 April. It's going to see a significant shift up the waste hierarchy with more focus on a range of proactive areas – waste prevention, better design and improved resource efficiency.
We'll be exploring more ways of tackling the issue of consumption, which is admittedly a tricky area. I'm keen to see whether responsibility deals could have a role to play - these are a tried and tested way of working with businesses to reduce use of resources overall.
We'll continue to address certain areas such as recycling and, in particular, business waste from SMEs.
Food waste will remain important to us. It will be about preventing it in the first place and then treating with methods such as anaerobic digestion to recover energy so we continue to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.
As I've just briefly mentioned, responsibility deals – or voluntary agreements as they've previously been known - will drive much of our work. We know that these initiatives have a major and very practical part to play in delivering resource efficiency.
Take the Courtauld Commitment for the grocery retail sector and Halving Waste to Landfill for the construction sector as two examples. Both allow industry to use WRAP's expertise, come up with their own innovations and then share best practice – all without the burden of legislation.
Finding ways of combining our collective intellectual and financial resources is going to help us all as we reduce waste and become more sustainable and I'm sure that ethos of sharing will be more prominent in 2011.
I also sense that businesses will continue to listen to what the public thinks – and I don't just mean their own customers. Take B&Q's announcement that they're setting up a junior board of 17-19 year olds to advise them on "next generation sustainability".
I'm sure this is just one example of how wider society will get more involved with decisions about the environment and how we all take care of it.
So bring on 2011 - it's going to be about working together to find solutions that work for all of us.
Liz Goodwin is CEO of WRAP
This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox
