Call to tackle UK business waste :

The government needs to step up efforts to reduce waste from business, according to a parliamentary committee.
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee recommends using variable VAT rates to cut unsustainable consumption of raw materials.
Its report says pressure has so far concentrated on householders, who account for only 9% of the UK's waste.
Environment minister Joan Ruddock said the government does have measures that are inducing businesses to cut waste.
Those measures include the landfill tax escalator under which the tax on landfill will rise by £8 per tonne each year until 2011.