While Cllr Bettison welcomed the “great leaps forward” made by both councils and government over the past few years in their approach to dealing with waste and recycling, he reserved particular praise for the “millions of households who have changed their habits”.
Cllr Bettison was speaking to letsrecycle.com after it was announced that he would be leaving his role as chair of the board after serving the maximum three-year-term allowed, to be replaced from today (September 1) by leader of South Holland district council, Gary Porter (see letsrecycle.com story).
Looking back at his time in the role, Cllr Bettison said: “It's been three very exciting years in my political career. I have enjoyed the challenge immensely and I think that recycling and waste management has come an awfully long way in the UK in those three years and I have been very, very fortunate to have had a period in office that embraced those exciting times.”
Comparing the UK's current recycling rate to that of three years ago, Cllr Bettison claimed that he had helped people to realise that something had to change.
“At that time, the UK was the dustbin of Europe and I make no apologies for saying that,” he said.
“We never bothered to recycle much in this country because we had grown accustomed to the rubbish fairy arriving to spirit it away and I am afraid I was the one that broke the fact that the rubbish fairy was dead,” he added.
He explained that the “owners” of the “huge success” the UK had seen in waste and recycling were householders, and that councils were simply “the facilitators”.
“The success and credit lies with the millions of households who have changed their habits,” he said, adding that “those homemakers are the real heroes”.
Government
Cllr Bettison also hailed the progress made by government, claiming that: ” I do believe we have made great leaps forward in the ways that all bodies approach waste issues,” and explaining that: “There is evidence that government is changing and will change more in the future.
In particular, he said: “I think government has learnt that there is no one-size-fits-all and we have to deal with it locally and that what is right for one council may not be right for another.”
And, he added that he thought government minister had also learnt that householders' support for ideas could be won more effectively by telling them in simple terms what the policy aimed to achieve than by “issuing dictate after dictate”.
Landfill Tax
However, Cllr Bettison expressed his disappointment that the LGA had not yet succeeded in its oft-repeated calls for government to directly repay Landfill Tax to councils to allow them to invest the money the waste and recycling infrastructure.
“I am very disappointed we have not seen the repayment of those funds in a clear and transparent way, as was promised by Gordon Brown,” he said.
“I know that, every time I mention that to a minister, from the look on the minister's face that I have won the argument, they know I am bang to rights, I know they're bang to rights but they can't say it publicly,” he added.
But, he acknowledged that “all politicians are human beings and we all like to do all sorts of things that for whatever reasons they can't”, claiming that, with ministers telling the LGA they supported their aims, “if we have got them to say that to us, what more can we do than remind them that their conscience should be pricking them?”
Memorable moments
Looking back at memorable moments from his time in office, Cllr Bettison highlighted the time early on in his tenure as chair of the board, when he had found himself having to do more than 60 media interviews while on holiday, when the issue of chips in bins “exploded”.
And, he also pointed to the next year's holiday, when he was asked to become involved in a TV investigation into UK waste being stuck down wells in India.
“Two years ago, whilst on holiday the ego was very well stroked when I discovered the Trevor McDonald Tonight team wanted to fly a camera out to interview me when I was away and the LGA flew an officer out as well,” he said.
Achievements
In terms of achievements from his time as chair, Cllr Bettison said: “We have got
recycling up the agenda and its being discussed in polite dinner party conversation.
“It's probably as antisocial to say I don't recycle as it is to say I empty my car ashtray out at the traffic lights. That now is no longer acceptable and that's a huge step we have taken in the last three years,” he added.
LACORS
Cllr Bettison is now set to take up the chairmanship of Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS), the LGA arm responsible for supporting councils in relation to services such as trading standards and environmental protection.
Describing himself as being “incredibly” excited about his new post, he explained that “I've already been in touch with people there and had some discussions with people there.
There's an awful lot to do there and a lot we can do is to raise the profile of LACORS.”
And, he said he was “thrilled” that his place at the head of the environment board would be taken by Cllr Porter.
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