Dr Paul Hollinshead was speaking to members of the Environmental Services Association (ESA) at the 3rd ESTET National Consensus Conference in London yesterday, and although he made it clear that the waste review had not yet come to a firm conclusion, he was generally optimistic about the future of waste management.
“This study shows the government is concerned about this issue, as do the extra funds allocated for local authorities,” Dr Hollinshead told ESA members. “Other EU nations prove it can be done and there are a growing number of high performing Local Authorities in the UK who have good waste management. If we all work together, government, industry and households, there is no reason why we cannot radically improve UK waste management.”
In looking at how the government should tackle the Landfill Directive, Dr Hollinshead said that the SU had found that the Netherlands took 10 to 15 years to become successful at landfill avoidance. However, the UK has only eight years until the first landfill target – the EU Landfill Directive will require the UK to reduce biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill to 75% of that produced in 1995 by 2010, to 50% by 2013 and to 35% by 2020.
Dr Hollinshead went on: “Biodegradable waste sent to landfill is projected to rise – without action – making the task of meeting the targets more difficult. This increases the risk that the UK will face significant fines for failure to comply with the Directive if we do not act.”
Denying that anyone – even government ministers – had yet seen any finalised report from the SU, Dr Hollinshead said that the Unit is still discussing options with a wide range of people, modelling the costs and benefits of various approaches to managing waste and examining economic and regulatory options at various levels of the waste hierarchy.
“Our aim is to outline the options and produce a balanced package of measures that is right for the UK,” he said.
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