Council body embarks on its own waste review

The Local Waste Review will see the LGA gather evidence from councils to identify challenges and innovations in waste management, make recommendations for reducing cost pressures including regulatory change and develop proposals that will help council meet funding constraints. Findings will be published in a report in June 2013.

The work is being led by a Challenge Group which met for the first time on December 7 and issued a call for evidence to councils yesterday (January 3).

The Challenge Group is headed up by Clyde Loakes, Labour councillor and deputy leader of the London borough of Waltham Forest who is also deputy chair of the LGAs environment board. He is also a member of the London Waste and Recycling Board as well as being chair of the North London Waste Authority.

Commenting on the reasons for the review Cllr Loakes told letsrecycle.com this morning (January 4): The idea for the review came as a result of slow progress from Defra on its own waste review and an increasing lack of enthusiasm for the review from across the waste sector.

As waste collection authorities and waste disposal authorities we are significant players in the waste arena and there is some really good practice out there that is not getting enough airing. So we thought there are good reasons why local government should be leading on this and brought people together.

Review

The review will encompass a broad range of subjects ranging from the funding of waste services, infrastructure and regulation to how to maximise income – including the potential of reuse and levering in funding from packaging producers two areas in which Cllr Loakes believes there could be some quick wins.

“The idea for the review came as a result of slow progress from Defra on its own waste review and an increasing lack of enthusiasm for the review from across the waste sector.”

– Cllr Clyde Loakes

I think there should be some really easy wins out there such as banning things which have a reuse value from landfill, like paint, he said. Here in Waltham Forest we collect waste paint from HWRCS and send it to reuse groups who then sell it to housing associations and ALMOs, saving them money and diverting waste from landfill at the same time. It is a win-win.

I also think the government needs to get a grip on packaging multinational companies are burdening local authorities with excess costs from excess packaging. That is more of a lobbying part of this work. We need some decent sign up by the multinationals to real targets not just a voluntary approach.

Panel

Alongside Cllr Loakes the Challenge Group is being steered by a cross-party panel which also includes Clare Whelan (Conservative councillor for the London borough of Lambeth), Peter Jones (independent councillor for Babergh district council) and Keith House (Liberal Democrat councillor for Eastleigh borough council).

It has over 30 other members including representatives from the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), Environmental Services Association (ESA), National Association of Waste Disposal Officers (NAWDO), Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC), Defra, DCLG, WRAP and IESE, amongst others. The LGA is keen to draw on the expertise of these organisations as they have a wealth of data and case studies which could feed into the review.

We had our first round table meeting before Christmas and will be holding a number of workshops and we put out a call for evidence yesterday for councils to see what evidence there is and suggestions, said Cllr Loakes.

Hopefully using the feedback we will come up with some convincing piece of work.We want to have the draft paper ready for the board by early May and we will publish in June, hopefully at the LGA annual conference or even at CIWM or perhaps have a joint launch.