It's important to ensure producer responsibility means just that
Joy Blizzard, LARAC
LARAC chair, Joy Blizzard, said that the organisation was going to focus on helping councils prevent waste being created and coming into the system in the first place.
She explained that many councils would be facing “severe” budget restrictions in 2010 due to the current economic climate and as such it would be important for them to save money. She predicted that due to the budget cuts councils would concentrate on waste prevention as it was always cheaper to prevent waste going into collections than pay for it to be reprocessed.
Ms Blizzard said that a key way to encourage waste prevention was to communicate with householders via the national Recycle Now and Love Food, Hate Waste (LFHW) campaigns.
She commented: “It is important for LARAC to build a business case for communications campaigns because councils are no longer going to have big budgets available for communication.”
She explained that LARAC, as part of its focus on waste prevention, wanted local authorities realise the value of proper communications projects and would be urging them to use WRAP-led LFHW and Recycle Now schemes which are recognised nationally. Ms Blizzard argued that paying to run schemes often saved councils money in the longer term.
And, she said using the national branding was around 30% to 40% more effective than developing new campaigns.
Packaging
In addition to saving money through waste prevention, LARAC has also pledged to focus on packaging in 2010, with particular reference to producer responsibility.
Ms Blizzard believes more work needs to be done to ensure money raised through the Packaging Waste Recovery Note (PRN) system goes back into councils' pockets. She adds: “It's important to ensure producer responsibility means just that.”
“The point is to ensure costs do not get passed back to councils when the producer should be responsible. We need to go against the attitude that local authorities can deal with it.”
Being short-changed by the PRN system is just one concern for LARAC. Ms Blizzard explained that it was also worried about how Schedule 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations would affect councils, particularly with regard to the collection of commercial waste.
There is a concern that local authorities will be expected to collect more and more material types, such as commercial waste, that they are not obliged to collect at present, with less and less cash to spend. Ms Blizzard admits this 'lack of cash' is a perennial problem for councils but says this is an issue that LARAC needs to be make its voice heard.
Lobbying
In order to support its member councils, LARAC is developing its lobbying skills. There is room in its budget to take on another member of staff with expertise in policy and Ms Blizzard said the organisation was working to ensure the opinions of its members were taken into account at the development stage, rather than the response stage of the consultation process.
She pointed out: “We need to be a bit smarter in when we can intervene but it is a work in progress at the moment, something we are working towards.”
In political terms LARAC is unsure what the general election will bring in terms of governance but Ms Blizzard is sure, whatever the outcome it, that there will not be a lot of money for local authorities.
She is not sure if waste policy will change much over 2010, as she predicted the ruling party, or parties, are likely to have other priorities ahead of waste.
Weekly collections
However, she is sure there will not be a return to weekly waste collections, despite the promises of some local councillors, because she explained, councils can simply not afford to return to this type of collection system.
Altogether, 2010 will see LARAC focusing on three key areas as part of its action plan. In addition to working on packaging and waste prevention issues the organisation will also focus on quality while it works to increase its lobbying influence.
Ms Blizzard adds: “It is about trying to break up our actions into smaller, more manageable, actions. It is a risk to focus down and we are going to be a lot more focused in what we do this year.
Ms Blizzard pledged that LARAC would continue to provide quality information to recycling officers, keep people updated news and issues concerning its membership as well as sharing best practice and attending and holding events.
The LARAC Conference will take place on the 3rd and 4th November this year at Liverpool ACC. For further details contact Rebecca Denney 020 7633 4520.
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