Environment minister Richard Benyon has been accused of being “not interested” in ensuring whether local authorities are complying with the Household Waste Recycling Act’s requirement for them to collect at least two materials at the kerbside for recycling by December 31 2010.
The criticism has come from the Labour MP, and former recycling minister, Joan Ruddock and also from campaign group Friends of the Earth in response to comments made by the minister in a written answer to a parliamentary question last month (October 19).
In the question, which was posed by Mrs Ruddock, the minister was asked how many households were being provided with collections of at least two recyclables – as the 2003 legislation requires them to do by the end of this year – and what the government was doing to ensure councils complied.
Mr Benyon responded by explaining that, according to WRAP data, 94% of England’s households were provided with a collection of at least two materials in 2008/09, adding that it was in the process of collecting data for 2009/10.
And, he said with regards to compliance that: “The government believes that local authorities are best-placed to make decisions on the efficient use of local resources and are answerable to their local customers on how they comply with the legislation.”
Under the Act, councils must collect at least two recyclables unless, as it is outlined in Defra guidance on the legislation, “the cost of doing so was unreasonably high or where comparable alternative arrangements are available”.
Councils can also be exempted from the requirement by the environment secretary, but only until December 31 2015.
Ruddock
Mrs Ruddock, who is MP for Lewisham and Deptford, told letsrecycle.com that she had been “a bit disappointed” by Mr Benyon’s response, claiming that “It sounded as if the minister is not interested”.
“Government needs to take a proactive approach,” she said, and contrasted the minister’s comments with how she said she had dealt with the issue when she was waste and recycling minister in 2007 and 2008.
“When I was there I made a point of looking at the league tables and asking what we were doing for local authorities at the bottom of the league table,” she said.
Mrs Ruddock was responsible for introducing the Household Waste Recycling Bill to Parliament in 2002.
And, looking at the legislation’s impact, she said: “Overall it’s proved a great success because we have seen lots of local authorities adding more and more waste streams because we thought the act would get them started.”
Friends of the Earth
Mrs Ruddock’s comments were echoed by Friends of the Earth’s waste campaigner Michael Warhurst, who told letsrecycle.com: “If you look at it broadly its very important because it just made sure that kerbside recycling was the way to go.”
“In the past you had councils saying there are two places to go to and that was the solution,” he explained, noting that the Act had been “one of the factors that’s pushed recycling in the right direction”.
But, he also said he “wasn’t particularly impressed” by Mr Benyon’s comments on ensuring compliance with the act, explaining that: “It would be good to have a thorough examination by government of whether councils are actually fulfilling the requirements of the act.”
Describing the Act as “very much constant” with the coalition’s aims to be the ‘greenest government ever’ and to encourage recycling rates upwards, he said, as a result of this, Defra should be willing to commit resources to exploring it, adding that “government should be challenging councils”.
And, Mr Warhurst also claimed there was a need to examine exactly in what circumstances councils were not offering the collection of two materials on grounds of cost or alternative arrangements being available.
Responding in particular to the minister’s assertion it was for residents to challenge their councils over the provision of collections, he said: “I suspect that the most likely places where it’s happening are going to be places where communities are less likely to be involved in these issues.”
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