Across the board there have been concerns expressed about the loss of expertise in government departments and the tough future facing local authorities. And, the impact the cuts could have on tackling waste crime have been highlighted by the Environmental Services Association although the Recycling Association said there may be a positive effect if well run firms receive less attention from regulators.
Unease
The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management said that it had already voiced its unease over whether Defra could deliver with its current resources and now the picture was causing deeper concern.
Deputy chief executive Chris Murphy, said: Defra has been very forthright in reminding the private sector and local authorities that they have a role to play and must step up to the plate, but the fact remains that the responsibility for delivering effective policy, legislation and guidance to drive progress on sustainable waste and resource management ultimately rests with government.”
Mr Murphy also raised concerns about reduced budgets for local authorities. He said: For local authorities, meanwhile, cuts in the region of 10% and the extension of the Council Tax cap could seriously impact on their ability to maintain current collection, recycling and local environmental quality services, let alone improve them.
Hefty blow
The Environmental Services Association, which represents the UKs waste and resource management industry said that it is was not surprised that the Defra budget had taken a hefty blow because of the 11.5bn shortfall the Chancellor had to make up in the Spending Review, “but wanted funding to remain to tackle waste crime”.
ESAs director of policy, Matthew Farrow, said: Defra ministers will now need to make some difficult choices in allocating the reduced spend, but it is vital that funding for tackling waste crime is protected. At a time when the Environment Agency is still identifying new illegal waste sites more quickly than it can shut down existing ones, any let up on the criminal behaviour which both blights communities and undermines legitimate business must be avoided.
The ESA recently wrote jointly with the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management,Resource Association and Renewable Energy Association to Defra Minister Lord de Mauley to make this point.
Landfill tax
Concerns over the governments continuing silence on the future of the landfill tax in terms of retaining its value were expressed by Dan Cooke, director of external affairs for waste management firm Viridor, which is currently investing more than 1 billion in next generation infrastructure.
Mr Cooke said: Waste reduction, re-use, enhanced recycling and recovering value from what remains are UK success stories.That success has been driven by strong policy, fiscal intervention and investment in collection and processing infrastructure from the public and private sectors.
Todays further efficiencies identified by the Chancellor pose a potential risk to the ability of DEFRA and local authorities to deliver on policy and provide essential recycling and waste services. Whats more, the lack of clarity on future rates or any reference to retaining the real terms value of landfill tax moving forward threatens to stall investment, new infrastructure and employment at a critical point in the UKs fragile economic recovery.
Speaking in the Houses of Parliament, earlier this week, resource minister Lord de Mauley commented on the landfill tax, but did not suggest future rises, and confirmed that there was a floor under landfill tax of 80 per tonne. The 80 charge will come into force in April 2014.
Flatlining
The Resource Association, the trade association for the reprocessing and recycling industries and their supply chain, warned that cuts made in the wake of the spending review might be made in the wrong places and could lead to flatlining of the progress we have made in recent years on recycling and resource efficiency .
Chief executive Ray Georgeson said: There is much still to do to reach European best practice levels of recycling and resource efficiency from effective regulation of MRF output to improve recyclate quality through to proper enforcement of waste regulations to drive out rogue operators and enhance a strong mainstream industry, as well as support councils in ensuring that collection systems and communications work well.
“All of this and more needs clarity, leadership and support from Government to help industry play its full part. In a diminishing funding regime for Defra, all of this will be even harder to achieve, despite the valiant efforts of many.
Positives
The Recycling Association said it was not surprised at the spending round cuts but that there might be a benefit for well-run companies who operate compliantly.
Chief executive Simon Ellin said: We were not particularly surprised by the cuts although it is too early to ascertain exactly where the cuts will impact. We have fully supported Defra in their efforts to reduce waste crime and we hope that the cuts dont impact on the momentum they seem to have been gaining in this area.
Looking at positives from the spending reductions, we would like to think that resources will now be diverted away from the scrutiny and regulation affecting our processing members, all of whom are already tightly regulated and operate in a highly compliant manner.”
Mr Ellin added: “Our recommendation would be to focus on those who ignore the rules, and allow our compliant members to continue to deliver their excellent services which have delivered improvements year on year and have contributed to the huge success story that is the UK recycling industry.
Economy
The Environmental Industries Commission sought to remind the Chancellor that a good environment equals a good economy and that this should not be forgotten when planning public spending.
Michael Lunn, the EICs director of policy, said: The Chancellor needs to understand that the relationship between the environment and the economy is positive and not a threat to growth, that is, improving the environment also improves the economy. Countries with good environments have better economies than those with polluted environments”.
Mr Lunn also raised concerns that with job cuts in government departments, important expertise was being lost.
Lower cost
Anerobic Digestion & Biogas Association chief executive Charlotte Morton, commented that the AD process could help councils reduce costs.
Shesaid: With ever more innovative waste collection and treatment options becoming available, which have been shown to save councils money, there are plenty of opportunities to make waste collection and treatment more environmentally-friendly and lower cost through embracing technologies such as AD.
However, councils need central governments guidance and support to help them make the most of the resources available to them. This is also vital to support the UKs strategic goals: the coalitions promised huge increase in energy from waste through anaerobic digestion requires separate food waste collections, and the Committee on Climate Change highlighted the importance of banning food waste from landfill in their 5th progress report yesterday.
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