Government Policy
While it is up to councils how to collect and manage waste, they are heavily influenced by central government policy.
Waste strategies setting out how ministers believe waste should be managed are in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the English government is currently reviewing its own policy in this area. Typically these strategies are implemented through legislation, making them legally binding.
A summary of all current government policy and strategies can be found below.
England
The coalition government is currently undertaking a wide-ranging Waste Policy Review in England following its election in May 2010. This review will cover all kinds of waste including municipal and is being led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Initial findings are due to be published in May 2011 and will replace the Waste Strategy for England 2007, which set out the previous government’s long term vision for waste.
Intended to set out the steps necessary to create a ‘zero waste’ economy, the review will consider whether lessons can be learned from experiences in other parts of the UK and across the EU.
The coalition government agreed in May 2010 to promote a “huge increase” in the production of energy-from-waste through anaerobic digestion and the review will include a plan to achieve this.
Other areas which are being addressed are voluntary producer responsibility deals, new approaches to tackling waste from businesses and waste prevention.
The Department for Communities and Local Government has also pledged to help councils return to weekly waste collections, although it is unclear to what extent this will be addressed in the review itself.
A public consultation which will feed into the review closed on October 7 2010.
Scotland
The Scottish Government published ‘Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan’ in June 2010.
This document sets out the Scottish Government's vision for a zero waste society, where waste is treated as a resource. The plan includes landfill bans for specific waste types, separate collections of waste such as food, restrictions on energy-from-waste feedstock and measures to cut the carbon impact of waste. A 70% recycling target, with a minimum of 5% sent to landfill, has also be set for 2025.
In December 2010, a consultation was launched on what regulatory changes the Scottish Government plans to make to implement its strategy, under the Zero Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2011.
Wales
The Welsh Assembly Government published its long-term waste strategy, ‘Towards Zero Waste’ in June 2010.
This sets out a framework for improving resource efficiency in Wales from now until 2050. Measures promoted in the strategy include waste prevention, the separate collection of food waste and kerbside sorting for dry recyclables.
Alongside the strategy, the WAG is developing sector plans to cover: municipal waste; collection, markets and infrastructure; wholesale and retail waste; and, construction and demolition waste. The municipal waste sector plan is the first to be developed and is expected to be published in final form in March 2011 following a consultation in 2010.
As outlined in the strategy, Wales became the only part of the UK to set statutory waste and recycling targets in December 2010, by passing the Waste (Wales) Measure.
Under this law, every local authority in Wales must meet a 52% recycling target in 2012-2013, rising gradually to 70% by 2025 or face fines. The Measure also gives ministers the power to introduce landfill bans and charge for single use carrier bags. Charges of 5p for bags will come into force from October 1 2011 – another first in the UK.
Northern Ireland
In March 2006, Richard Rogers, of the Northern Irish Department of Environment, launched Towards Resource Management: The Northern Ireland Waste Management Strategy 2006 - 2020 at Stormont.
The Waste Management Strategy highlights the need to increase waste recycling and recovery in a number of ways that include recycling targets, awareness campaigns and the possible introduction of incentive schemes.
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