The long-awaited parliamentary report on the Waste Strategy for England 2007 has today (January 19) called on the government to do more to tackle business waste, as well as increase household recycling targets and speeding up the introduction of landfill bans.

In its review, the cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee claimed that Defra's waste strategy showed a "disproportionate focus" on household waste, given that it accounted for only 9% of the 330 million tonnes of waste produced annually across the whole of the UK.

The review concluded that Defra policy was too focused on the domestic waste stream

It claimed that the department was only "belatedly" attempting to address issue surrounding the amount of waste coming from business and commercial and industrial (C&I) sources.

In particular, the Committee, which began its review of the Strategy in June 2007, was critical of the fact that the most recent figures for performance in this sector are based on a survey carried out in 2002/03.

Launching the report, committee chairman Michael Jack MP, said: "Defra must give a clear lead on what it thinks the potential is for business to reduce its waste levels and increase its rates of recycling. At the same time it must encourage companies to take a completely new view of waste and see it as a valuable source of raw material which must not be squandered in these difficult economic times."

Elsewhere, the Committee praised the efforts of local authorities in increasing household recycling rates, and also welcomed the government's commitment to consulting on material specific landfill bans.

However, it called on Defra to set higher targets for household waste recycling than those outlined in the revised EU Waste Framework Directive - aiming for a 50% target by 2015, and 60% by 2020, rather than the 50% target the Directive expects the UK to reach by 2020 (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, it questioned whether the current timeline that expects any landfill bans to be in place by 2020 was "ambitious" enough.

The MPs said in the report that Defra was being "too generous" by having a long lead time and instead should have the "courage of its convictions" and implement any proposed bans by 2015.

The report stated: "Whilst we welcome the announcement that Defra will consult in 2010 on banning certain substances from landfill, we believe it is being too generous in allowing up to another decade to pass before these materials are not allowed to be landfilled."

Cuts

The Committee also said that Defra should re-evaluate the impact that budget cuts for the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the National Industry Symbiosis Programme (NISP) were having on business waste reuse and recycling levels.

The MPs said that NISP had been cost-effective and help perform its task of helping turn business waste into a resource, leaving them to voice concerns about a 17.5% cut in the NISP budget from £4.85 million for 2009/10

The Committee asked Defra to explain how the rationalising programme, which will see WRAP lead NISP and the business resource efficiency programmes (BREW) in a single resource efficiency body from April 2010, would be cost effective.

The inquiry into the Waste Strategy for England was reopened by the Committee following the emergence of illegal waste shipments to Brazil

It stated: "[Defra] should confirm that rationalisation of services under WRAP has released efficiency savings and explain how WRAP will work with local government, businesses and regional agencies to enable them to serve a wider range of organisations."

Elsewhere in the report, the Committee called on the government to:

• require all retailers with a turn-over greater than £50 million to publish details of their waste prevention strategies and recycling performance;
• require food retailers and manufacturers to report, at least annually, on how much food waste they produce;
• set a target for mandatory collection of food waste, learning lessons from those authorities which already collect such refuse for beneficial use such as in anaerobic digestion plant, and ensure continued provision of advice, education and practical support, for example through reduced cost composting equipment.
• assess the future of the Private Finance Initiative and see whether it is possible to make contracts more flexible to changing circumstances and evolution in waste treatment technologies.

Exports

On the issue of exports, which prompted the reopening of the inquiry in July 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story), the Committee said the "small number" of prosecutions for illegal activity did not represent the "true picture" of a potentially larger problem.

In a bid to combat this, the Committee suggested a greater liaison between agencies attempting to tackle illegal waste exports and called on the government to remove any legal impediments preventing the flow of information between the Environment Agency and relevant bodies.

And, it stated that it was in full support of proposed changes to the regulation of waste electrical and electronic goods (WEEE) which would help ensure that only fully functioning electrical and electronic goods were exported from the UK.

The Committee based its views on visits to waste and recycling facilities by its members, as well as oral and written evidence given by members of the waste and recycling industry.

Response

Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth backed the Committee's proposal for higher recycling rates but called for an all-out ban on material being landfilled or sent for incineration.

Friends of the Earth's resource use campaigner Julian Kirby said: "The Committee is right to call for higher recycling rates from households and businesses but we must be more ambitious - the Belgian region of Flanders is already recycling over 70% of its waste.

"The Government should ban the landfill and incineration of recyclable material, stop funding wasteful incineration schemes and provide support instead to expanding recycling and food waste collections."