However, the 83-page manifesto document, which was officially launched by Prime Minister David Cameron in Swindon, offers no indication as to how a Conservative-led government would seek to address plateauing recycling rates in England or on any future policy on waste and recycling.
Among the pledges contained in the document is a commitment to ‘meet our climate change commitments, cutting carbon emissions as cheaply as possible, to save you money’, through continued support of the Climate Change Act.
The Department for Business’ Green Investment Bank, which has invested over £200 million in waste projects since it was set up in 2012, looks set to play a key role in any future development of renewable energy infrastructure in the UK. The Bank recently set up a dedicated £50 million fund for the development of advanced technology energy from waste facilities.
In the manifesto, the Conservatives state: “We have been the greenest government ever, setting up the world’s first Green Investment Bank, signing a deal to build the first new nuclear plant in a generation, trebling renewable energy generation to 19%, bringing energy efficiency measures to over one million homes, and committing £1 billion for carbon capture and storage. We are the largest offshore wind market in the world. We will push for a strong global climate deal later this year – one that keeps the goal of limiting global warming to two-degrees firmly in reach.
“At home, we will continue to support the UK Climate Change Act. We will cut emissions as cost-effectively as possible, and will not support additional distorting and expensive power sector targets.”
Green Belt
The manifesto also includes plans to ‘build infrastructure in an environmentally sensitive way’ and includes plans to limit development on Green Belt land – including giving local communities more control over planning.
The Party is also pledging to back small businesses via a ‘major’ business rates review, and to support apprenticeships to reduce unemployment among young people.
Crucially, the Conservatives have also set out plans to hold an in-out referendum on EU membership by the end of 2017, stating that the EU is ‘too bureaucratic’ and ‘too undemocratic’. This is likely to be significant given the ongoing development of the EU Commission’s circular economy legislation, which is intended to drive resource efficiency among EU Member States.
The Party has hinted that it will seek to see ‘powers flowing away from Brussels, not to it,’ adding: “We have already taken action to return around 100 powers, but we want to go further. We want national parliaments to be able to work together to block unwanted European legislation.”
Councils
For local authorities, there looks to be little relief on the funding side, with the Party pledging to keep council taxes low, although there is no pledge to continue to keep pressure on councils over weekly waste collections, as has been a particular crusade of the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles since coming to power in 2010.
The launch of the Conservative manifesto today follows the publication of the Green Party’s pledge to double spending on waste and recycling to £4 billion per year (see letsrecycle.com story), while the Labour Party has promised to create one million green jobs, if elected to government next month (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Liberal Democrat manifesto is due to be published tomorrow, although the Party has already committed to a 70% recycling rate by 2030.
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