It could take up to seven years to introduce material-specific landfill bans because the UK's material sorting capacity will need to be increased enough to deal with the growth in material first, research published today (March 18) by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has claimed.

The WRAP research shows it could take seven years for landfill bans to be introduced for specific matrerials

And, the study entitled 'Landfill Bans: Feasibility Research' and carried out by consultants Eunomia, said it could take even longer for any ban that was introduced for biodegradable wastes, which involve a more significant tonnage and need to capacity than any other streams it looked at.

However, the report also claimed that, in the long-term, banning materials from landfill would reduce costs for the taxpayer because it would cost less than sending all the waste to landfill - if the appropriate materials are targeted and the system works properly.

The report, which comes alongside today's publication of a consultation on potentially banning up to nine materials from landfill in England and Wales (see letsrecycle.com story), suggests landfill bans could save the UK as much as £8.25 billion and 189 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions between 2009 and 2024.

However, it stresses that the climate change and resource efficiency benefits of any bans are "likely to be greatest" when coupled with a requirement to sort materials.

And, it concludes that the materials which could offer the best potential for greenhouse gas savings if they are banned from landfill are, in descending order: paper/card; food; textiles; metals; wood; and, green waste, while banning glass would also be likely to be achieved with a "net benefit to society"

But, there is no place in this list for plastics or WEEE, both of which appear on the list of materials being considered in the landfill bans consultation, with the report noting .

Commenting on the study, WRAP chief executive Liz Goodwin said: "This piece of research shows that we could make some significant financial and environmental savings if we stopped sending certain types of rubbish to landfill.

"However, in order to make this successful, we will need to increase our sorting infrastructure and introduce the change over a suitable time period to ensure it happens smoothly and effectively," she added.

Biowaste

The report also concludes that additional reduction in greenhouse gas emissions could be secured by banning biodegradable waste, or biowaste, from landfill, but stresses that both the reduction, and the benefit to society of such a move, would depend on the alternative treatment method that is used.

It explains that a lead-in time of between seven and 10 years would be needed because it would involve 10 times as much waste as any of the other streams and because "of the pressure that would be faced by the planning system as currently configured".

Countries

The research is the second government-commissioned piece of work on landfill bans, following the September 2009 publication of a report by environmental think-tank Green Alliance which looked at experiences in other countries where landfill bans had been introduced (see letsrecycle.com story).

Today's research also looked at other countries' experiences, including Flanders in Belgium and Massachusetts in the US, to assess whether their approaches would work in the UK, and it also includes a detailed review of all available literature on the subject

And, it examined the environmental and financial costs of landfilling material compared to recycling or composting it, with in-depth discussions being held with stakeholders to examine how this work on the ground.