Composting Association calls on WIP to take on planning role

The association is lobbying both the government and the opposition parties in the light of what it calls a “huge shortfall in biodegradable waste processing capacity” in the UK.

” The amount of red tape is causing a log jam in the system and leading to a huge shortfall in biodegradable waste processing capacity.“
– Dr Jane Gilbert, Composting Association CEO
It says the UK is a “long way off meeting its targets” under the Landfill Directive to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill to 75% of 1995 levels by 2010.

The association, whose members include businesses, local authorities, community groups and academic institutions, estimates that one new catering waste treatment plant is needed every week to reach this target. However, it points out that only nine such composting or anaerobic digestion plants have been approved since July 2003.

Dr Jane Gilbert, the Composting Association's chief executive, said: “The amount of red tape currently involved in getting a new plant through the consents process is causing a log jam in the system and leading to a huge shortfall in biodegradable waste processing capacity. It's vital that we implement a solution now.”

While it should take 12 months to get all necessary permissions for a new plant if there are no problems, the association warns that it “often takes several years and can take up to six years for larger projects”.

Strategic Waste Authority
Delays in the planning process were not helped because “several different consents are required from several government agencies”, the association said. A suitable co-ordinating mechanism would be a Strategic Waste Authority, it said, a proposal currently being considered by the Cabinet Office.

But while the Authority is under consideration, Dr Gilbert said DEFRA's Waste Implementation Programme should take co-ordinate waste planning.

Dr Gilbert explained: “If the Strategic Waste Authority does go ahead, it will take time to become operational. Extending the remit of the Waste Implementation Programme would be a fast and cost efficient way to bridge gap in the short term, and its function could be easily transferred when the time comes.”