Some councils that had already been recycling high proportions of their waste were previously set recycling targets as high as 50% of their household waste by 2005/06. Despite achieving high diversion rates through recycling and composting, these authorities have been at risk of failing.
But Defra today said that in order to reduce Council Tax pressures, these councils will have their recycling targets capped at 30%. Just over 100 councils will benefit from the move, and the government said it believes capping the recycling targets would not threaten the 25% national recycling target for 2005/06.
Fines
Today also saw the Department reducing the potential fines under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme from 200 a tonne to 150 a tonne. Under the scheme, councils are fined for every tonne of biodegradable municipal waste they send to landfill above the tradable allowances that they hold.
Environment minister Elliot Morley explained: “The package announced today will give local authorities greater flexibility to tackle the challenges locally without compromising the Government’s commitment to increase recycling and divert more biodegradable municipal waste from landfill.”
The announcements came after the publication of the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2005/06 today (December 9).
One factor behind the decision to reduce the fine by 25% was because Defra feared that there could be a budgetary problem for some local authorities. This arose because of a potential divide – some councils might sell their allowances, while others have to budget for purchasing allowances, which could have had a value of up to 200. The 200 figure linked to the maximum penalty originally proposed, and was the only figure that councils could use as the market for allowances is still completely undeveloped.
Commenting on the development, Alice Roberts, executive officer for environment at the Local Government Association, said: “The LGA welcomes the reduction, this will make it slightly easier for local authorities to plan ahead.”
Reward fund
In a separate announcement today, Defra announced its three-year un-ringfenced reward fund for local authority recycling achievements. The 260 million Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant (formerly known as the Waste Performance Reward Grant) will support new and more efficient ways to deliver waste reduction, increase recycling and diversion from landfill, Defra said.
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