The pressure group said today that the move will “undermine government plans to improve the UK's recycling record, currently amongst the worst in Europe”.
” This is yet another case of the environment being sacrificed for short-term political gain.“
– Claire Wilton, Friends of the Earth
Local authorities set household waste recycling targets higher than 30% by 2005/06 will now only have to meet a 30% target next year, Defra said on Thursday (see letsrecycle.com story). This move will affect 103 local authorities, including 18 councils that were supposed to meet a 40% recycling target by 2005/06.
Friends of the Earth said the government only expects to “scrape” past the national 17% recycling target for 2003/04, and said the decision to cap council targets was “a pre-general election bid to fend off Council Tax rises”.
The group said that cutting local authority targets would “seriously undermine” national targets, and could lead the government to “fines of up to 180 million a year” for missing Landfill Directive targets.
Breathtaking
FoE waste campaigner Claire Wilton said: “This is a breathtaking U-turn. Just two months ago, the government was concerned about meeting its own 25% recycling target by 2005. Now it is relaxing scores of local authority recycling targets and risking big fines from the European Commission.
“This is yet another case of the environment being sacrificed for short-term political gain,” Ms Wilton added.
Friends of the Earth said the decision to reduce recycling targets was a “kick in the teeth” for councils that had already met their targets or were recycling above 40% of their household waste.
Ms Wilton said: “The government poured 30 million into an advertising campaign this autumn to encourage people to recycle more. But recycling is difficult unless decent local services are provided. By letting councils off the hook, the government is failing to ensure that recycling is easy and convenient.”
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