Environment Agency Warns City Of London

An Environment Agency audit of London has warned that the city is putting "increasing and unsustainable strain" on the environment and said lifestyles that waste less resources need to be adopted.

According to its State of the Environment report, each Londoner needs land the size of five and half football pitches to support their way of life.The city should waste less water, manage waste better and adapt to climate change, it suggested.The report is aimed at educating policy makers, developers and the public to promote sustainable practices.

London produces 19 million tonnes of waste every year and the city currently only recycles 20% of household waste.

The report states that environmentally sustainable developments are required to provide the extra 30,500 homes required each year to keep up with the growth of 800,000 by 2016. It also suggest that London's ecological footprint ,the amount of land required to provide all the resources consumed, and absorb all the waste produced ,is greater than cities such as Tokyo but is more sustainable than Shanghai and New York.

Clive Coley, regional strategic manager for the Environment Agency, said: "Our capital city has some challenges ahead to protect its environment for future Londoners...We all need to reduce London's ecological footprint and minimize our use of the valuable natural resources we have...And we believe that as a world-class city, London can provide international leadership".