2 Encouraging businesses and householders
to reduce the amount of waste generated
7. Reducing the tonnage of biodegradable waste sent
to landfill depends in part upon minimising the amount of waste
generated and increasing the tonnage that can be recycled or composted.
Based on local authority data, the tonnage of municipal waste
collected in England increased from around 24.5 million tonnes
in 1996-97 to an estimated 29.1 million tonnes in 2003-04. The
Department's Waste Strategy for England 2007 aimed to decouple
waste growth from economic growth and put more emphasis on waste
prevention and re-use. The strategy outlined plans for further
consultation on the proposed removal of the ban on household charging
by local authorities for waste reduction and recycling.[8]
8. The Department's Waste Implementation Programme
and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) provided £131
million of support to local authorities by awarding grants to
encourage recycling, providing best practice advice in the introduction
of kerbside collections, providing guidance to households, running
public awareness campaigns, and encouraging the development of
markets for recycled materials. There was no clear link between
the amount of money granted to local authorities for these initiatives,
however, and any consequent increase in performance. In addition,
WRAP provided £2.3 million in funding to the Real Nappies
Programme to divert 35,000 tonnes out of the 500,000 tonnes of
disposable nappies sent to landfill each year. The initiative
achieved a reduction of 23,000 tonnes, and the Department agreed
with WRAP to look for another body to take on this work so that
the funding could be used elsewhere.[9]
9. The amount of municipal waste recycled in England
increased from 3.4 million tonnes in 2000-01 to 7.8 million tonnes
in 2005-06. Much of the increase reflected the commitment of the
public to play their part by sorting their waste, as well as the
introduction of recycling arrangements by waste collection authorities.
Around a third of household materials (such as cans, glass and
plastic) are not biodegradable, however, so progress in complying
with the European Landfill Directive on municipal biodegradable
waste depends on finding alternative methods of disposal for more
organic materials, such as garden waste. Local authorities have
typically introduced kerbside collections for garden waste and
some have moved from weekly to fortnightly collections for general
waste. The Department acknowledged that the convenience of garden
waste collection from the front door may have encouraged the public
to dispose of materials that would have otherwise been put on
their garden compost heap. Such actions would increase the tonnage
of biodegradable waste recycled without any reduction in the amounts
diverted from landfill, although the Department considered the
impact was only marginal. Much of the increase in the kerbside
collection of garden waste was because people have taken less
garden waste to civic community sites.[10]
10. The Department's modelling has estimated that,
to meet European Union targets, approximately 40% of household
waste should be recycled by 2010. Further increases in recycling
rates depend upon increasing the number of people who take part,
and encouraging those who already recycle some waste to do so
even more. 57% of people are already committed recyclers. WRAP
Ltd has undertaken television campaigns to raise public awareness,
but as recycling arrangements differ between waste collection
authorities to reflect local circumstances, the public can find
it difficult to determine what can or cannot be recycled. Some
packaging states that it can be recycled, for example, but the
local authority may not have the facilities to process this type
of waste. Shropshire County Council managed to improve its consistency
amongst its collection authorities by determining a common set
of standards across the county.[11]
11. Further reductions in biodegradable municipal
waste going to landfill depend upon more effective partnership
working by the Department with retail and manufacturing businesses.
The 1997 European Union Packaging Directive placed an obligation
on the producers of goods and services to reduce waste by setting
annually increasing targets on the proportion of packaging that
must be recycled. Progress depends upon explaining and encouraging
retailers to comply with the spirit of the regulations. The introduction
of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive during
summer 2007 places the financial responsibility for recycling
and disposal of electrical items (such as old televisions) on
the retail and manufacturing industry, but it is not clear how
such arrangements are likely to work in practice and who will
ultimately bear the cost.[12]
12. The amount of food waste generated each year
in England is growing and represents 17% of all household waste,
and a significant proportion of the biodegradable waste sent to
landfill. The introduction of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme,
however, appears to have led many waste collection authorities
to review their charging scheme for collecting such waste from
restaurants, public houses and other food establishments. In those
cases where the costs of local authority collection have increased,
businesses may have opted to rely on private contractors instead.
In these circumstances, the waste would continue to be sent to
landfill, but would no longer appear on the local waste collection
authority's figures. Any financial incentive to divert food waste
from municipal collection to private contractors instead will
depend on the scale of the landfill tax escalator, a tax on using
landfill. In the meantime, however, this anomaly in the rules
of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme could distort reported
figures on the tonnage of municipal biodegradable waste sent to
landfill and lead to inconsistencies across the country.[13]
8 C&AG's Report, para 2.1; Waste Strategy for
England 2007, May 2007, Cm 7086 Back
9
C&AG's Report, paras 4.4-4.6, 4.9; Qq 2, 12, 35, 43, 56-59,
79-80, 91-96, 110; Ev 38 Back
10
C&AG's Report, para 4.3; Qq 33-34, 52, 79-80; Municipal Waste
Management Statistics (http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/wastats/) Back
11
C&AG's Report, para 4.1, 4.7; Qq 12-13, 49-55, 71, 101-102 Back
12
Qq 23-31, 43-48 Back
13
C&AG's Report, para 1, footnote 1; Qq 54, 78-79, 81 Back
|
