The trading system, expected to be introduced in 2004, will see the government giving disposal authorities allowances for the amount of biodegradable municipal waste they can landfill. Any landfill allowances not used by the authorities could be sold to authorities that require more than their initial allocation.
A report from officers submitted to a meeting of the North London Waste Authority yesterday warned that the government's preferred approach for allocating allowances was based on current landfill rates, rather than 1995 landfill rates on which the Landfill Directive's diversion targets are based.
The government's preferred option aims to provide a smooth introduction of the landfill trading scheme (see letsrecycle.com report), whereas basing allocations on past rates would reward those authorities that have invested in landfill diversion projects over the last few years.
Missing out
Officers warned that a system based on current landfill rates will mean the Authority – a partnership between the London boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest – missing out on the income from a “significant amount” of surplus allowances.
The report said: “The government is now advocating the option that the Authority had previously identified as its second preference (after the option which was likely to give the Authority a significant amount of surplus allowances that the Authority could sell to the highest bidder).”
“If this proceeds in a manner unfavourable to the Authority, the consequences will be felt for at least twenty years and possibly longer,” the report warned.
The NWLA is currently drafting a response to the government's landfill allowance consultation paper, a consultation which closes on November 21, 2003 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Edmonton
The report to NWLA councillors also warned that the forthcoming refurbishment of the Edmonton incinerator could hit the Authority's landfill allowance trading. The incinerator, run by NWLA partners LondonWaste Ltd, is to be upgraded to meet the terms of the Waste Incineration Directive (see letsrecycle.com story).
Officers urged the NWLA to “press LondonWaste to ensure that the reduction of energy recovery capacity during the Waste Incineration Directive investment works affects the Authority's waste stream to an absolute minimum, and that it is the waste of other customers of LondonWaste that is diverted to landfill.”
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