Council call for funds to tackle “shocking” food waste

Council chiefs have called for more funding for municipal waste management and more action to tackle the “shocking” amount of food waste being thrown away by households each year.

Responding to today's report by MPs from the Communities and Local Government select committee (see letsrecycle.com story), the Local Government Association said separate and weekly food waste collection is “desirable in principle”, but warned of costs and practical issues surrounding new schemes.

 

A third of food waste is thrown away at an average cost of £400 a year per household. The committee is right that this is a shocking example of utter waste.

 
Cllr Paul Bettison, LGA

Cllr Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA's Environment Board, also warned of the £205 million fines councils – and therefore Council Taxpayers – will face in 2013, under the government's Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme. He called on the government to fund “the spiraling costs of waste management and collection”.

The waste management industry, through the Environmental Services Association, has also highlighted the need for councils to be “properly resourced” in responding to today's report from the MPs.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said this morning it was “pleased that the majority of the committee's report welcomes the government's approach to waste management. However, it said the government was “disappointed” that that “some of the Committee's conclusions on financial incentives are based on a misunderstanding of our proposals”.

LGA

The LGA, the councils' lobbying organisation, was one of the parties who gave evidence to the Communities and Local Government inquiry on refuse collection in May and early June.

Commenting after today's publication of the inquiry's final report, the LGA welcomed the conclusions that local authorities are in the best place to make decisions on what kind of schemes are needed to drive up recycling rates, and that the sharing of experience and views on best practice was vital.

Cllr Bettison also welcomed the MPs' findings on alternate weekly collections, that they can work well in some areas, but may not be suited to others. On the issue of financial incentives for household recycling, he said: “Where councils want to introduce householder incentives, they must be simple to understand and administer and we look forward to working with the Government to refine the proposals in their recent consultation document.”

The councillor, who is also leader of Bracknell Forest council, said there should be more focus on non-municipal waste and on food waste. He said: “The LGA would also like to see more focus on the 90% plus of waste which is not municipal. We also call on government, producers and retailers to work together and reduce the amount of food waste being thrown away.

“At present, up to a third of food waste is thrown away at an average cost of £400 a year per household. The committee is right that this is a shocking example of utter waste. Separate and weekly food waste collection is desirable in principle but there are serious issues of cost and practicality,” he said.

Funding

Warning about the need for more funding to divert material from landfills, Cllr Bettison said: “Figures agreed between LGA and government officials show that if we do not meet targets, councils, and therefore local people, will face fines of £150/tonne, potentially amounting to £205m in 2013. This will be on top of the £4.2bn government expects councils need to spend in 2013 to manage waste and will equate to around £220 for every household in the country to collect and dispose of the rubbish generated – almost double what is paid today.

“On top of this, councils will pay up to £3bn in landfill tax over the next 4 years, following the announced £8 per tonne annual increase. If this money is not returned to local government in an open and transparent way, this cost will be passed onto council taxpayers,” he warned.

Industry

The waste management industry today shared the LGA's view that councils need the right funding in place to run collection services, with the industry trade association, the ESA saying Britain “still invests less in recycling than our European neighbours”.

Dirk Hazell, chief executive of the ESA said: “Whether collections were weekly or fortnightly would probably not be an issue if the basics were all in place: councils need to be properly resourced to sustain momentum on recycling and they also need to give planning permission for new infrastructure to recover value from waste.

“With the basic framework in place, issues of implementation – like collection frequencies, collection containers suited to local housing stocks and public information programmes – could more aptly be addressed,” he said.

Mr Hazell backed the CLG Committee's reservation that the Government “might have gone further in giving councils the power both to incentivise good recyclers and to raise more money”. However, the ESA chief crticised the MPs for being “cautious” in highlighting problems with the planning system. 

He said: “Planning policy is a fundamental obstacle to building the Recycling Society: the Committee lost a chance to recommend specific action to ensure that sufficient infrastructure is delivered on time to meet our European obligations to divert waste from landfill.”

Defra

Defra, which responded to the MPs report today on behalf of the government rather than the Department for Communities and Local Government, promised to consider the committee's conclusions and recommendations “in detail” as part of government's formal response to the report.

In initial comments today, the Department said in a brief statement that it was pleased that MPs recognised that “different waste collection methods are required for different locations and that local solutions are required”. Defra highlighted the MPs' welcome for government proposals on the establishment of joint waste authorities.

The Department also pointed to the MPs' observation that “research to date has found no evidence of adverse health impacts associated with alternate weekly collections”.

However, Defra accused the Committee of misunderstanding government policy on financial incentives for household recycling. “We have not fixed a level for the incentive – this would be up to authorities to decide,” Defra insisted.

Defra said it was “disappointed” that on financial incentives the Committee “has not recognised the need to try out new and innovative ways of encouraging sustainable waste behaviour. We are currently consulting on our financial incentives proposal and will not finalise our policy until this is completed. But it's clear that we cannot go on throwing ever increasing amounts of rubbish into landfill,” it said.