Conservatives call for manufacturers to pay for recycling

The MP for West Dorset, who is currently organising David Cameron's Conservative leadership campaign at the moment, was speaking yesterday at the Awards for Excellence in recycling and waste management at London's Savoy Hotel.

”We need to create structures where it becomes financially advantageous to recycle it and not send it to landfill. As long as that is done on a basis that is universal it does not need to give any competitive disadvantage.“
– Oliver Letwin MP
Outlining the Conservative Party's attitude towards recycling and waste management, he said that long-term investment decisions would not be made unless there was a consistent long-term policy direction. He stressed that there “is clearly a watertight consensus on waste”, pledging that no mainstream politician would now argue with the need to make advances recycling.

But, he said there was a need to “drive the direction of policy significantly further”, in particular moving away from the sense that “the ultimate decision is whether to impose obligations on local authorities or obligations on consumers.”

Manufacturers
Mr Letwin warned that hitting the consumer with recycling costs could lead to illegal activity like fly-tipping. He explained: “If we impose obligations on the consumer, it will see the law abiding clobbered, while those operating outside the law will not be affected. This would mean an increase in things like fly-tipping and other unwholesome activities. So, where does the obligation need to be? It needs to lie on the manufacturer.

“The manufacturer wants to sell the product and needs incentives to make a product that minimises the impact it has on the environment when it comes to the end of its life,” Mr Letwin said.

“We need to create structures where it becomes financially advantageous to recycle it and not send it to landfill. As long as that is done on a basis that is universal it does not need to give any competitive disadvantage either to any company or any sector.”

Energy
The Shadow Environment Secretary, who was Shadow Chancellor until the May election this year, said he had decided to take on the environment role because of its rising importance in the policy agenda.

Steve Eminton (left), editor of letsrecycle.com, talking to Shadow environment secretary Oliver Letwin MP

Addressing the Awards for Excellence yesterday, which were organised by letsrecycle.com to reward achievements across the waste spectrum (see letsrecycle.com story), Mr Letwin also spoke out on the importance of energy-from-waste in diverting material from landfill.

“There needs to be a meeting point between the need to reduce the amount of waste and the lower carbon economy – we need to promote energy-from-waste. I'm well aware this can be controversial, but unless we are willing to take some tough decisions we won't solve the landfill and energy problems we have.”