The government's response to the waste review needs to be “fully co-ordinated” with its overhaul of the planning system under the Localism Bill if the waste sector is going to attract the investment it needs to meet waste and climate change goals.
That is the message from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which today (February 14) published a report highlighting both the challenges involved in moving to a ‘zero waste economy', claiming that a more “ambitious” waste policy could help to harness the potential in waste.
Moving to a zero-waste economy will require government departments working together and thinking outside the box
Dr Neil Bentley, CBI
In the report, entitled ‘Making Ends Meet: Maximising the value of waste', the CBI also calls for the government departments currently working together on the waste review to continue to work together once it is published, claiming conflict between waste and energy policies could be damaging.
And, it advocates specific action on business waste, backing “smarter” regulation to make it easier for businesses to use by-products and waste material from their, or others', business processes, for example by taking a more “risk-based” approach to waste carrier registration requirements.
The CBI's deputy director general, Dr Neil Bentley, said: “We risk missing a trick by not harnessing the huge potential of waste. Rather than being viewed in isolation, waste management should be seen as an important part of the green economy and our growth strategy.
“Ambitious waste policies will allow the Government to hit a broad range of its objectives from cutting emissions to bolstering energy security.
“We should also be encouraging councils to share recycling and waste facilities, while businesses could be incentivised to sell their recyclable waste. But moving to a zero-waste economy will require government departments working together and thinking outside the box,” he added.
Planning
In terms of planning, the CBI claims that it currently takes seven years for waste companies to get new facilities up-and-running, with four of those years spent in the planning process, and Dr Bentley said: “That is not the way to attract investment.”
In light of this, the body warned that the Localism Bill, which aims to give more power on planning decisions to local councils and communities, could create “additional uncertainty” at a local level.
“Delivering the right technologies and economies of scale requires leadership at the national level, and with the abolition of regional strategies, provisions should be made to secure robust strategic planning at a sub-national level in the new planning system,” it stated.
In particular, it stresses the need for local planning authorities to co-operate more closely with other prescribed bodies, while also calling for waste facilities to be defined as sustainable development in local development frameworks to create a presumption in favour of the projects.
“Treating waste management recovery and recycle facilities in this way will go some way to helping local authorities to adapt to changing local circumstances with regard to its waste management and respond more quickly to waste infrastructure needs,” it explained.
The CBI warned in December 2010 that action was needed to tackle a “backlog” of 37 energy infrastructure planning applications that it said were delayed in the planning system, including two waste-to-energy projects (see letsrecycle.com story).
Measures
Among the other key actions the report called for from government are:
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A full audit of current regulation to ensure it delivers the best environmental and economic results
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Increased adoption of energy from waste technologies to reduce carbon use and deliver energy security;
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Improved data on commercial and industrial waste to improve policy implementation;
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Encouraging councils to share waste and recycling facilities to create savings.
Today's report is the second document to be published by the CBI in the past six months outlining how it thinks the government should deal with waste, having called for stronger leadership to increase energy from waste in October 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
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