In seeking to shift municipal waste policy towards sustainability, policy-makers at European, national and local levels are facing the challenge of how to engage householders in reducing, reusing and recycling their waste. This in turn means engaging with the arena within which day to day waste management activities are practiced – the home. In view of this critical relationship between waste policy and household practices, this research project1 has sought to examine:
• the ways in which new infrastructures for managing waste are being ‘designed in’ to new housing developments and renovated kitchens in the UK and Europe;
• the barriers identified by key actors in the as impending the pursuit of a more integrated approach to housing design and waste management and how these might be overcome;
• examples of best practice currently being developed in the UK and their applicability in the context of the North-East of England
