LGA says councils should get 40% of material value

Reforming the PRN system to directly provide funding to local authorities would incentivise packaging recycling, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

In its submission to an inquiry by the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee into waste management in England, the LGA claims that councils have radically increased recycling in recent years and should receive a better share of recycling value.

The LGA estimates that up to 1 billion of additional value could be available by 2020 if councils are able to obtain a better share of the recycling value at the same time as reducing contamination.

The Association estimates that at present councils obtain around 28% of the total financial value of the material they collect. But it reasons that this sum should be increased to around 40% to reflect the pivotal role played by authorities and residents in boosting recycling rates.

In order to increase the value of recycling, the LGA agreed that material quality needed boosting and said this would be helped by more investment in infrastructure, which could be partly achieved by councils receiving funds from commercial landfill tax receipts.

The MRF Code of Practice would also help boost value, the LGA said, but the government must additionally close the loopholes that encourage the export of low grade recycling a practice it claims is incentivised by the current PRN (Packaging Waste Recovery Note) system, which needs reforming.

The LGAs response states: Reforming the system to recognise the role of local authorities in meeting packaging targets would provide a direct incentive to local authorities to collect more packaging material and make an additional contribution towards meeting our EU recycling targets in 2020.

Reuse

Reuse of products was emphasised by the Association in its response. It said there is significant potential to increase the proportion of household waste that is reused and that boosting reuse through the likes of take-back schemes, landfill bans and consumer incentives could bring up to 435 million of additional value to taxpayers, businesses, charities and consumers.

Other measures called for by the LGA include scaling up the debt finance available through the Green Investment Bank; Treasury incentives for purchasing second-hand products; and the maintaining of council powers to fine residents that continually and wilfully fail to recycle and contaminate recycling.

The submission also tackled the issue of fines for residents who fail to recycle although the government is keen for a softer approach on punitive measures. According to the LGA, the governments Deregulation Bill would remove council powers to fine residents that continually fail to recycle and contaminate recycling and this will hamper efforts to meet 2020 recycling targets. Its response therefore calls for these powers to be maintained.

And, the LGA said, it would also help to boost recycling if there was greater recognition on the part of national politicians and use of the media for effective communications with residents to influence behavioural change would help support greater household recycling.

• Focusing on the impact of Defras decision to step back on activities in the waste sector in 2014, the EFRA Committees inquiry was launched in March and closed for submissions earlier this month (see letsrecycle.com story). Also published on Friday, the LGAs response to Environmental Audit Committee (EAC)s inquiry into Growing a Circular Economy, which launched on March 18 (see letsrecycle.com story), contained many of the same calls for reform.