Waste management, the challenges of the PFI and ‘sustainability reporting’

Abstract This paper examines the potential for ‘sustainability reporting’ in the context of waste management contracts let under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Whilst issues relating to the use of the PFI as a source of funding have been discussed at length, this paper takes the PFI as a ‘given’ in the context of the funding of waste management. The paper concentrates instead on the implications of using PFI and how, if it is to be used, it might be used constructively. There are two somewhat contradictory implications. The first is that the impetus to the funding of the creation of infrastructure assets has been a factor in driving the agenda towards chemico‐energy modernization, which may not be the ideal long‐term solution to creating sustainability. The second, however, is that PFI contracts create an opportunity to ensure that ‘sustainability reporting’ must be undertaken as a condition. Based on empirical work in the field, we argue this can provide the foundation for a discourse that might eventually lead to the promotion of a more embedded attitude to sustainability. Drawing on our fieldwork, we also identify possible sustainability reporting models and identify reasons why such approaches may be worthwhile in the context of waste management and other PFI contracts with significant environmental impact. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.