Speaking yesterday to letsrecycle.com about the divide between district and county councils – which are responsible for waste collection and disposal respectively – a spokesperson for the Strategy Unit said: “Britain is the only country in Europe where collection and disposal are split in such a way. At the moment, there's no incentive for the authorities to reduce waste.”
The Unit has recommended that the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs consider combining district and county councils into single “resource management authorities” over the next 3-5 years in order to increase recycling and waste reduction.
Example
In a report released this week, the Unit cited the success of Project Integra, the county-wide integrated waste management strategy in Hampshire, which it said was “an example of how overall added value can be achieved through collaborative working.” This is because individual authorities benefited from access to collections, processing and infrastructure that would be outside their own financial reach, drew on each others' experiences, had the market advantage of large material volumes and got a better understanding of the “whole picture”.
The report also suggested expanding recycling credit schemes (in which credits are paid by disposal authorities to collection authorities for tonnes recycled), to incorporate waste reduction by collection authorities and using a delivery task force to help councils avoid duplication in their delivery plans.
Plastic bags
The Unit defended its decision not to discuss the issue of plastic bag recycling in the report.
In March 2002, Ireland introduced a tax of 9p on each carrier bag taken from a retailer. Environment Minister Michael Meacher then stoked up controversy by expressing personal enthusiasm for the scheme and commissioning a DEFRA report into its success.
However, the spokesman said that the Strategy Unit did not discuss a similar tax in England because plastic bags made up a very small percentage of the waste stream.
“Our main focus was how to increase recycling and waste reduction, so we focused on the biggest problem areas,” he said. “Almost 50% of what is in our bins is organic, but 0.23% is plastic bags.”
But he admitted: “We do have to consider the issue of plastic bags, but the focus of this report is tackling the more immediate problems.”
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