Conclusions and recommendations
Role of Defra
1. Valuing
waste as a resource is increasingly important for the economy
and the environment. One of Defra's key priorities is to improve
the environment. Sustainable waste and resource management should
play a key role in achieving this aim. (Paragraph 6)
2. The investment
and innovative solutions that businesses bring to the waste management
sector are invaluable, but this does not remove the need for a
clear framework of Government policy, legislation and guidance
within which such businesses can thrive. (Paragraph 15)
3. We recommend
that Ministers actively reassure interested parties that waste
policy remains a priority. In order to address concerns in the
sector, Defra should immediately clarify its definition and interpretation
of "clear market failure", explain how the market is
monitored by the Government for signs of such failure, and confirm
the criteria which must be met to identify areas where businesses
are "better placed to act".
(Paragraph 16)
4. Co-ordination and
consistency between all Government departments involved with waste
policy is essential. Defra's policies and guidance should not
be undermined by contradictory messages from other Government
departments. (Paragraph 21)
5. We recommend
that, rather than stepping back, Defra takes the lead role and
responsibility for waste management policy as part of its departmental
priority to improve the environment. This should include appointing
a Minister with clear responsibility for co-ordinating across
all governmental departments and ensuring consistency of approach
in terms of legislation, policy, incentives and communications.
(Paragraph 22)
Recycling rates in England
6. We
are concerned that the 2020 EU target of 50% household recycling
will not be met in England without clear Government leadership
and renewed policy drivers and support from Defra. (Paragraph
25)
7. We urge Defra
to work alongside WRAP and industry to develop a comprehensive
plan to be implemented in the event that England's recycling rate
continues to slow. We recommend that Defra learns from successful
approaches in countries such as Wales and Ministers consider introducing
refreshed policies and re-introducing requirements such as statutory
recycling targets for local authorities alongside the requisite
funding support. (Paragraph 28)
8. On balance, we
conclude that local authorities should remain responsible for
addressing the specific challenges and barriers to increasing
recycling rates that they face at a local level. However, there
is scope for guidance and best practice to be shared at a national
level in order to move towards a more standardised approach and
to assist local authorities to improve their individual performance.
(Paragraph 34)
9. Defra should
facilitate and encourage learning from best practice actions to
help local authorities gravitate towards the best possible service
in their area. Working with the Local Government Association,
we urge Defra to share information on successful approaches with
local authorities to enable them to develop the most effective
services for their particular local circumstances.
(Paragraph 35)
10. Successful communication
campaigns must be sustained to keep householders engaged. We commend
the work of WRAP and Keep Britain Tidy and strongly believe that
the research, advice, support and information provided by these
organisations is invaluable. (Paragraph 39)
11. We are concerned
that, despite the significant achievements of both organisations,
Defra's funding for WRAP and Keep Britain Tidy has reduced over
recent years. We urge Defra to increase the funding if evidence
suggests it necessary in the lead up to 2020.
(Paragraph 40)
12. Householders have
a key role to play in increasing recycling rates, but household
engagement must be improved in order to tackle the common challenges
of householder confusion, lack of confidence in the process, and
contamination of recyclates. Recycling rates could be significantly
improved by the provision of consistent, simple and concise information.
(Paragraph 46)
13. Communication
needs to be tailored to local circumstances but Defra should engage
with local authorities and provide support at a national level,
particularly in relation to common issues and problem areas. We
recommend that Defra considers compulsory publication of an annual
Register of End Destination of Recyclates by all local authorities
and waste management companies involved in the recycling chain,
in order to improve access to information and public confidence.
(Paragraph 47)
14. We support
Defra's Reward and Recognition Scheme and expect Defra to use
the results to identify and support best practice schemes to be
used as prototypes for other local authorities to follow.
(Paragraph 50)
15. In accordance
with the waste hierarchy, we encourage a move towards banning
the landfilling of all recyclable waste by 2025 as landfill should
only be used for wastes for which there is no better recovery
option. However, any such proposals must be signalled well in
advance, with appropriate support and alternative infrastructure
put in place to guard against disproportionate cost burdens.
(Paragraph 54)
16. Meeting a 70%
recycling target in England for all household waste by 2030 would
be challenging but Defra should aspire to achieve recycling rates
at the maximum feasible level, with or without European targets.
(Paragraph 55)
Residual waste treatment
17. We
recommend that Defra analyses data on waste flows and waste flow
forecasts in order to provide the waste sector with clear guidance
on how much energy-from-waste infrastructure capacity is needed
in England to gain an optimal balance between export and local
treatment. (Paragraph
60)
18. We commend Defra
for issuing a call for evidence on the practice of exporting RDF
and we look forward to Defra's response in due course. (Paragraph
63)
19. We recommend
that, in its response to this Report, Defra include an assessment
of the economic impact of building the infrastructure needed to
treat the RDF currently exported compared with the economic impact
of the current practice of exporting RDF from England to other
countries in Europe. (Paragraph 64)
20. We agree with
Defra that the greatest benefit of anaerobic digestion is in dealing
with waste feedstock, not purpose-grown crops. However, sourcing
appropriate waste feedstock on a consistent basis remains a significant
challenge for AD operators and more work is needed to address
the issues surrounding separate food waste collections. (Paragraph
70)
21. The Government
must find ways of diverting more food waste out of the residual
waste stream by methods which are economically and environmentally
viable and suitable to local circumstances. Where food waste is
separately collected it should be treated at local AD plants whenever
possible to address the problem of sourcing waste feedstock.
(Paragraph 71)
22. In order to
improve the confidence of agricultural customers and improve the
stability of the market for digestate, we recommend that further
research is undertaken to determine the long-term effects of AD
digestate on the quality and composition of soil and crops.
(Paragraph 73)
23. The Government
should encourage the use of heat outputs from incinerators for
local district heating for buildings and/or for industrial processes
to gain maximum efficiencies from incineration processes. Defra
should explore the barriers to using heat recovery and collaborate
with DECC and DCLG to ensure that Government policies, planning
permissions, permits and incentives are all aligned to enable
higher efficiencies for incineration plants.
(Paragraph 76)
24. In most cases,
the environmental benefits of recycling household waste are higher
than sending it to energy-from-waste technologies such as incineration.
However, we do not think that high levels of recycling are incompatible
with the use of incineration for genuinely residual waste. (Paragraph
82)
25. We urge Defra
to ensure that waste sent to energy-from-waste plants such as
incinerators is only genuinely residual waste. We ask Defra to
assess whether the use of gate fees is sufficient to achieve this
aim and to confirm whether additional interventions, such as regulatory
requirements to remove dry recyclables or higher gate fees have
been fully considered. (Paragraph 83)
26. We commend the
work of the Environment Agency assisting operators with the problem
of waste fires and we support the work being undertaken by the
Chief Fire Officers' Association in relation to this serious issue.
(Paragraph 88)
27. We expect Defra
and DCLG to take action to address the frequent occurrence of
fires at waste management sites and to support the development
of the fire code of practice by the Chief Fire Officers' Association.
Defra must ensure that additional resources are deployed in the
best way possible to monitor and enforce the conditions of the
requisite permits. (Paragraph 89)
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