Government “pooling” proposal slammed by local authorities

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs sent out invitations to local authority chief executives for them to “pool” their waste arrangements with neighbouring councils.

Pooled waste authority groups would then only need to ensure their overall recycling and composting levels remained above target, and individual councils could have their targets changed (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, local authorities have found the guidance notes supporting DEFRA's invitation largely unhelpful. High-performing councils cannot see the benefits to them, since for low-performing councils to have their targets lowered within a group, high-performing councils would have theirs raised.

One waste and recycling officer told letsrecycle.com: “The guidance is confusing and very wordy – some bits of it I had to re-read. I don’t understand the principle they are trying to get across. What are the advantages they are proposing for pooling together to meet our recycling targets?”

Benefits
The main advantage of joining together in such relationships would be to establish an overall strategy for an area, spreading the responsibility between constituent councils and maximising the efficiency of combined resources. But with DEFRA's pooling proposal, each local authority will still be responsible for its own individual targets.

One source in local government said that the only clear benefit was to DEFRA itself: “Maybe it will make recycling rates look more favourable for the Government.”

However, a spokesperson for the Government denied that they were making the proposal in order to fudge figures and gloss over failing local authorities' recycling rates.

“We are not making it easier to deliver the improvement in recycling rates that is required,” DEFRA said. “The guidance states explicitly that, while pooling allows authorities to change the individual levels of recycling and composting required of each of them, the overall level must remain the same.”

According to DEFRA, pooling arrangements would benefit councils where facilities in one local authority are used by other local authorities in the area, and where waste responsibilities are split between district and county councils.