The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had expected last week to launch its consistency in collections proposals for England. It is understood that these were to have been explained at a launch event at a recycling plant in East London to have been attended by Secretary of State, Thérèse Coffey.
Subsequent to the cancellation of the launch, Defra described the new delay as “technical” with suggestions that publication will now come in May after the local elections. Concerns are thought to remain in parts of Whitehall about the requirement for mandatory food waste collections and potential negativity towards the possibility of householders having to have more waste bins.
National
National press coverage has been less than positive in recent weeks with, for example, the Daily Mail talking of “plans for seven waste bins” and even the BBC reporting on the likelihood of more bins.
For the waste and recycling sector uncertainty remains around: implementation dates; mandatory food waste collections; whether Defra will still allow charging for green waste collections; TEEP and commingling; the forcing of reluctant councils and contractors to collect cartons; and the development of plans for plastic film collection.
Five years
Commenting on the latest delays, executive director of the ESA, Jacob Hayler, said: “It has now been more than five years since the Government first announced its Resources and Waste Strategy (RWS) in 2018. This important policy suite seeks to align a new Extended Producer Responsibility regime with consolidated, universal, collection services and a deposit return scheme, all of which will require significant infrastructure changes across England to deliver.”
Mr Hayler went on to say that the three systems (EPR, DRS and consistency) need to work together and that they have been subject to “extensive consultation” over five years.
It is outrageous that the sector continues to face dither and delay
He declared: “It is outrageous that the sector continues to face dither and delay from Defra over the release of its response on collection consistency. When the RWS was published in 2018, the strategy envisaged that the reforms would be in place by now, but at the current rate of progress there’s no way our sector can deliver these changes even by 2025. Without the complete picture, investment remains on hold and organisations across both the public and private sector cannot begin making the infrastructure changes required to deliver against Defra’s timetable.”
The ESA executive director also referenced the stagnation in local authority recycling performance. “The UK needs this new set of policy drivers – particularly around producer responsibility – if we are to achieve a more sustainable and circular economy while reducing carbon emissions associated with residual waste treatment.”
CIWM
The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) warned of the delays causing severe problems to implementing change.
Lee Marshall, CIWM policy and external affairs director, said: “CIWM is extremely disappointed to hear that the Government response on consistent collections has once again been delayed. When combined with EPR, this policy is key to increasing recycling rates in England. It will, however, require some significant changes to be made and these cannot be started while we still have a lack of clarity from Government.
“CIWM is concerned that each delay is creating a bigger and bigger procurement bottleneck that will cause severe problems in implementing the changes in a smooth and efficient manner. Recently, we have seen different parts of the material chain taking pot shots at the policies, and the lack of timely information from Government has allowed these to happen. There is danger of undoing the good work done so far and diminishing the positive way all parts of the material chain have contributed up to this point.”
Lobbying
And, CIWM called for an end to lobbying of Defra so that it could get on and make progress. Mr Marshall said: “CIWM urges all involved to resist publicly ‘lobbying’, as this can create more difficulties for policy makers and risks undermining the progress that has been made. CIWM wants to see the Government play its part by getting the consistent collections information released so we can work together on the implementation phase of these key policies that will help to move the world beyond waste.”
Organics
In the organics sector, Pamela Woolcock, group public sector lead at anaerobic digestion business BioteCH4, said: “We are disappointed the consistency recycling legislation has been delayed yet again. As far as we understand the April 2025 deadline of implementing food waste collection services has not moved and therefore any delay in providing the details of how councils should be implementing food waste collections is preventing them from procuring the best value services for their residents and making a significant contribution to reducing the impact food waste has on our environment.”
Essential
Commenting on LinkedIn about the delay, Stuart Hayward-Higham, chief technical development & innovation officer at Suez UK, said: “We have the #DRS and #pEPR consultation feedback, so some certainty, but the statutory instruments are required to cement certainty and unlock all the investment required. Consistency of Collections is however essential in England to set the requirements for what is collected, when it is required to be collected and in what combinations.
“Why? – well bin and truck body configurations will, to a degree, depend on the materials needing to be collected, new collection trucks may need to be ordered & delivered and sorting MRFs need to be converted, added to, or in some instances rebuilt to enable the materials collected can be sorted to the correct qualities to be delivered to the recycling and reprocessing facilities.”
There must also be concerns with regards to current collection and disposal contracts that, in the short term, will be coming to a natural end. This will put authorities in a very difficult position on what their procurement document might look and feel like.