Delivery on waste ‘key’ for new Welsh minister

In an exclusive interview with letsrecycle.com, the Labour Co-operative Assembly Member for Newport East said that he would be focusing on turning the ambitions laid out in Wales Towards Zero Waste Strategy into reality.

This includes a target to recycle 70% of all waste streams in Wales by 2025 with councils having a statutory obligation to do this – and a much stronger focus on waste prevention.

I believe we have a good waste strategy in place but now we have to strengthen our delivery, he said. Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones has been very clear that this Assembly is very much about delivery and I think delivery is the watchword.

Career

Born in Newport, Mr Griffiths began his career as a solicitor before becoming a founding member of the Welsh Assembly in 1999. He then held a number of high-level posts in the Welsh Assembly Government, ranging from deputy minister for education, culture and the Welsh language to Counsel General which he says has given him a strong grounding for his new position.

I have had cross-cutting experience which stands me in good stead for my environmental role as sustainable development needs to be central to everything the government does, he says, pointing to a recent statement by Carwyn Jones outlining plans to make it the central organising principal for the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG).

On a personal level too, Mr Griffiths has always been interested in the environment. A keen walker, swimmer and bike racer, he also describes himself as a keen participant in Newport city councils kerbside recycling collection service, has his own compost bin and grows his own vegetables.

This is reflected in his enthusiasm for his new role: It is really interesting and exciting stuff. There is so much positive policy around the environment and it is a huge opportunity to be involved with it, he says.

Municipal waste

On waste, Mr Griffiths is clear that Wales has made a lot of important progress already, achieving a 43.6% municipal waste recycling rate for 2010/11. While equivalent figures are yet to be published in England and Scotland, this performance is expected to put Wales at the top of the table among UK nations.

One big contributor to this achievement has been the fact that every council in Wales now offers separate food waste or food waste with green waste collections to its residents.

But, Mr Griffiths acknowledges there is still a lot to be done if Wales is to reach the 70% recycling target by 2025 and appreciates there will be a need to deliver “more for less” given the current budgetary restraints that everyone is facing. This has been a particular concern among councils whose funding has been slashed.

We have to make the necessary resources available for our policy to be successfully implemented, he comments. But we have to be more efficient at delivering more for less, and in more imaginative ways. We also know that landfill tax is going to increase and recycling will become more and more important in terms of saving money.

One innovative way of tackling waste which the minister points to is the introduction of a plastic bag charge, which will be introduced on October 1. He says: The plastic bag charge is another important step in demonstrating the commitment we have in Wales to tackling waste in Wales. I hope we remain open to new ideas like that.

Business waste

A key priority for the minister going forward is tackling business waste which accounts for a much larger proportion of waste than municipal waste.

Here, waste prevention is of upmost importance to the minister: We feel we are making a great deal of progress on municipal waste but commercial and industrial waste is very important as well, he says. There is a lot more that can be done, particularly around preventing waste in the first place, and we will be working with the UK government and developing or our policies to bring that forward.

To help tackle this waste stream, Mr Griffiths points to the possible introduction of landfill restrictions but stressed that these would not be implemented in the short term.

He says: We will look at our new legislative powers to look at controls on wastes in landfill and whether we might ban certain materials from landfill. There is still lots of work to do around that before we make any concrete proposals.

Sector plans

The governments policies on business waste will be reinforced by the publication of a sector plan for construction and demolition waste, followed by one on commercial and industrial waste later this year or in early 2012.

Similar plans which have been produced to complement the Towards Zero Waste strategy have already been consulted on for food manufacturing, service and retail and for collection infrastructure and markets.

When asked what will distinguish him from Jane Davidson, Mr Griffiths says that he is interested in addressing bread and butter environmental issues among disadvantaged urban communities. But, he claims a partial ownership for the policies already in place, commenting you have to remember that I was part of the ministerial team along with Jane Davidson in the previous Welsh Assembly Government and I have always strongly supported her policies and strategies.

So do England, Scotland and Northern Ireland have anything to learn from Wales?

We can learn from other parts of the UK including England and they can learn from us. I think on waste policy and recycling we are hitting our targets and making important progress and we have a great deal of ambition in Wales. I think it would be instructive for England and others to look at what is being achieved in Wales on waste being taken forward.