Memorandum by the Greater London Authority
(Mayor of London) (RC 46)
Reducing the amount of waste being sent to landfill
is a the heart of managing waste sustainably. This is central
to my vision in my Municipal Waste Management Strategy and also
the landfill directive. I am particularly concerned that rather
than genuinely reducing the amount of municipal waste being sent
to landfill, local authorities are attempting to find loopholes
or disregard the rules relating to the Landfill Allowances Trading
Scheme (LATS) system to give the impression that landfill has
been reduced, when in fact the waste continues to go to landfill
via the private commercial waste sector.
Around two-thirds of London's waste is buried
in landfill sites and mostly exported to sites outside of London.
I am concerned that any improvements in diverting waste from landfill
shown in Government statistics will actually be an exaggeration
of the reality.
SUMMARY
1. Reducing the amount of waste being sent to
Iandfill is at the heart of managing waste sustainably. This is
central to the vision of the Mayor's Municipal Waste Management
Strategy and also the landfill directive. The Mayor is concerned
that rather than genuinely reducing the amount of municipal waste
being sent to landfill, local authorities are attempting to find
loopholes or disregard the rules relating to the Landfill Allowances
Trading Scheme (LATS) system to give the impression that landfill
has been reduced, when in fact the waste continues to go to landfill
via the private commercial waste sector.
2. In particular the Mayor is concerned
that:
(a) Commercial waste portfolios collected
by local authorities are being sold off to the private sector
to contribute to meeting LATS obligations.
(b) Waste collection authorities may be pricing
themselves out of the commercial waste sector by charging unreasonable
rates.
(c) Whilst municipal waste to landfill appears
to be reducing due to the actions set out above, that waste continues
to end up in landfill via the private commercial waste sector.
(d) Government are not properly monitoring
the LATS scheme or following their own guidelines.
(e) Where local authorities are disregarding
rules no action is being taken against them.
INTRODUCTION
3. The Mayor of London welcomes the opportunity
to respond to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee
Inquiry into refuse collection. This submission highlights some
of the key issues the Mayor would like to see the Committee address.
4. As the directly elected head of London's
government, the Mayor is in a unique position to represent the
views of Londoners.
THE MAYOR'S
MUNICIPAL WASTE
MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
AND THE
LONDON PLAN
5. The Mayor is responsible for writing
the Municipal Waste Management Strategy for London. London waste
authorities (of which there are 37) must have regard to the Strategy
when exercising their waste functions set out in Part II of the
Environment Protection Act 1990. The Mayor has published the London
Plan, the spatial development strategy for London. London borough
local development plan must be in general conformity with the
London Plan. The London Plan sets a target for London to be 85%
self-sufficient in the management of its waste (municipal waste,
commercial and industrial wastes, construction and demolition
wastes) by 2020.
6. At the heart of both the Municipal Waste
Management Strategy and the London Plan waste policies is the
need to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill. London
currently relies heavily on landfilling its waste in the surrounding
counties. The aim of the Strategy is to dramatically increase
the levels of recycling in London and to develop non-incineration
based energy from waste technologies to manage the waste that
cannot be recycled.
7. The Mayor believes that to properly address
these issues London needs a single waste disposal authority. Without
a coordinated approach to the management of London's municipal
waste it will continue to be managed by the surrounding regions.
THE LANDFILL
DIRECTIVE AND
LATS
8. The Government introduced the Landfill
Allowances Trading Scheme (LATS) through the Waste Emissions Trading
Act 2003. The purpose of LATS was to ensure that all local authorities
contribute to meeting the requirements of the EU Landfill Directive,
which requires the UK to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal
waste it sends to landfill to:
— 75% of 1995 levels by 2010;
— 50% of 1995 levels by 2013;
— 35% of 1995 levels by 2020.
9. LATS has been introduced as the mechanism
to meet England's Landfill Directive requirements to divert biodegradable
waste from landfill. The Waste Emissions Trading Act 2003 places
a duty on waste disposal authorities to reduce the amount of biodegradable
waste disposed to landfill. It also provides the legal framework
for LATS. Each waste disposal authority in England has been given
an allowance of the amount of waste it can send to landfill, and
the total allowances equate to the contribution England must make
to achieve the UK's diversion obligations.
10. Authorities must ensure they hold sufficient
allowances to cover the actual amount of biodegradable municipal
waste they send to landfill in a financial year. Authorities that
do not require all of their allowances are able to sell their
excess allowances or bank them into the following year. Authorities
that do not hold enough allowances must either increase the amount
of waste they divert from landfill, purchase excess allowances
from another authority or borrow permits from their next year's
allocation.
The collection of commercial and industrial wastes
by waste collection authorities
11. Under Section 45(1)(b) of the Environment
Protection Act 1990 local authorities are required to make arrangements
for the collection of commercial wastes where requested to do
so by a commercial premises. Waste collection authorities may
also arrange for the collection of industrial waste in their area
with the consent of the waste disposal authority, as set out in
Section 45(2) of the Environment Protection Act 1990.
LATS and commercial municipal waste
12. The purpose of the landfill directive
(and the Mayor's Municipal Waste Management Strategy) is to reduce
the amount of waste sent to landfill for the improvement of the
environment, however the Mayor is becoming increasingly concerned
that some waste authorities may be meeting their LATS targets
by selling off their commercial waste portfolios or by pricing
themselves out of the market. The result of this is simply to
move waste from municipal waste figures to the private waste management
sector. Without the incentive of LATS, and with the landfill tax
at its current rate this waste will inevitably follow the cheapest
route, which is, still of course, landfill.
13. The so called reduction of municipal
waste to landfill is in some cases little more than a paper exercise,
whilst in reality that waste is still being sent to landfill.
Waste managed at these sites has risen from 6.2 million in 2003
to 7.7 million in 2005. Attached in Appendix A is the total waste
being sent to landfill sites that re being used by London authorities.
The figures are for the total waste entering the site (not just
waste from London), but the trend appears to suggest that the
amount of waste being sent to these sites is actually increasing.
14. Meanwhile the amount of waste being
sent to landfill and reported as municipal waste (as published
by Defra) appears to be reducing significantly—see Appendix
B. Whilst some of this diversion is genuine due to improving levels
of recycling, some also appears to be due to the creep of municipal
waste into the private was e sector.
15. The Mayor is aware of at least two London
boroughs, Wandsworth and Kingston that have recently sold off
their trade waste portfolios. Other boroughs such as the London
Borough of Brent have also done this but a number of years ago.
16. The Government's own guidance on this
issue "municipal waste, commercial waste and the landfill
allowance trading scheme" states that "a waste collection
authority cannot evade its duty under the 1990 [Environment Protection
A] by selling off its existing collection services. Selling off
an existing service is in substance no different from the waste
collection authority arranging for the commercial waste to be
collected by a private contractor. Thus for the same reasons the
waste formally collected by the authority would remain under its
control and would constitute municipal waste". Therefore
waste authorities should continue to report the tonnage of waste
from any commercial waste portfolios they have sold off. The Mayor
is concerned that this is not happening and the relevant monitoring
authorities are simply turning a blind eye to this fact.
17. The Government's guidance also states
that waste collection authorities can recover a reasonable charge
for commercial waste they collect including an element for the
LATS scheme. However the Mayor does not believe that Government
is monitoring the charging rates of local authorities and therefore
have no way of assessing whether their charges are reasonable.
18. The table below gives the example of
four London boroughs that have significantly reduced their waste
between 2000 and 2005. The Mayor fears that that this waste has
merely been directed to landfill via the private commercial waste
sector. Government appear to have no handle on whether these reductions
are genuine represent the selling off of commercial waste portfolios.
NON-HOUSEHOLD WASTE COLLECTED BY SOME LOCAL
AUTHORITIES IN LONDON 2000-06
|
| Authority | Collected non-household waste 2000-01 to 2005-06 (tonnes)
|
| 2000-01
| 2005-06 | Difference
|
|
| City of London[38]
| 64,830 | 39,252
| -25,578 |
| Kingston[39]
| 15,045 | —
| -15,045 |
| Wandsworth[40]
| 32,614 | 2,804
| -29,810 |
| Westminster[41]
| 148,625 | 110,699
| -37,926 |
| Total | |
| -108,368 |
|
19. The Mayor has written to the Minister for Waste on this
matter and has received an unsatisfactory response (the correspondence
is attached in Appendix C). The Minister's response states that
"I expect WDAs to report all waste in their possession or
under its control". That alone simply is not good enough.
CONCLUSION
20. The Mayor would strongly urge the Committee to investigate
the waste management practices of local authorities in relation
to meeting their LATS targets. In particular the Mayor recommends
the Committee investigate:
a. The selling off of trade waste portfolios by local authorities
to meet their LATS targets and the measures government is taking
to monitor this.
b. Whether some local authorities are setting unreasonable
charges for their trade waste to price themselves out of the market
and what action is Government taking to monitor this.
c. How the Environment Agency and Defra are monitoring waste
authority data to ensure they adhere to the Government's guidance
on LATS and commercial waste.
d. Whether municipal waste figures published by Government
actually show a real reduction in the amount of waste being sent
to landfill.
e. What action the Government taking against those authorities
who are not following Government's guidance.
38
Capital waste facts. Back
39
Western Riverside Waste Authority Best Value Performance Plan
2006-07. Back
40
Capital waste facts. Back
41
Capital waste facts. Back
| 
