LGA response to Defra waste review

14 June 2011

Responding to Defra's waste review, Cllr Gary Porter, LGA Environment Board Chairman, said:

“In the past decade household recycling has increased from 12 to 39 per cent, diverting millions of tonnes of waste from landfill. The environmental benefit has been enormous and the effort has helped council taxpayers avoid hundreds of millions of pounds in landfill tax. We recognise that even more needs to be done to achieve the zero waste economy. We will work with Defra to help councils continue to pioneer successful new approaches to further reduce the environmental impact of waste in locally appropriate ways and make it easier for residents to recycle.

“The spectre of millions of pounds in possible EU fines looms large in 2013 and again in 2020 if we fail to meet challenging targets to reduce the amount of waste being put in the ground. The incentive for councils to continue and improve on already successful approaches to waste collection is clear.

“Boosting recycling is only addressing half the problem. Retailers, manufacturers and caterers must do more to bring down the 23 million tonnes of waste generated each year. The volume of packaging waste has not changed in the last five years and every year we throw out more than 5 million tonnes of edible food. That's not good enough and we are pleased to see measures announced in the review to tackle waste at its source. We look forward to working with industry to help it address this significant problem.

“If recycling becomes contaminated it has to be sent to landfill. Allowing councils to identify and work with people who misunderstand or make mistakes when sorting their rubbish is important. As a last resort councils also need effective, proportionate powers to take action against households or businesses which persistently or wilfully damage the local environment. We will work with Defra to ensure that adequate deterrents are available to tackle the small number of people who undermine the good work of the rest of us.”

A copy of Defra's Waste Review is available from http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2011/06/14/waste-review-launched/#print

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