Today's Budget said that more work needed to be carried out, in cooperation with the Local Government Association and other stakeholders, into the practicalities and potential disadvantages of waste charging systems.
It said: “The government has ruled out a national tax on household waste. Further work is needed before any decision can be taken on whether to extend the powers of local authorities and introduce pilot household charging systems.”
The government is known to be keen on producer responsibility but the Treasury has repeatedly said it does not want the principle to be applied to householders.
Despite the Budget's declaration, indications are that DEFRA is still looking into the issue.
And speaking to letsrecycle.com, environment minister Michael Meacher said that variable charging was still an issue DEFRA was considering. He revealed that it could be a subject touched upon by the government's response to the Strategy Unit's November 2002 report Waste Not Want Not, which recommended that councils be given the power to charge householders for their waste.
Mr Meacher said: “The government is looking into several projects in terms of waste minimisation, and the big thing will be variable charging, which is something we may see as part of the response to the Strategy Unit report.”
In a report produced by the environmental think tank Green Alliance, Essex councillor Kay Twitchen, chair of the Local Government Association’s Waste and Environmental Management Executive said the Association supported the principle of councils being given the freedom to “incentivise, whether through charging or through reward, as a means of controlling the increase in volumes of household waste.”
Ms Twitchen said that councils would prefer to give residents financial incentives to recycle, such as a reduced council tax, rather than imposing charges on waste.
She added: “What we have never supported is any suggestion that the Government should require us to charge householders, or impose upon us any system of doing so.”
Delay
The Environmental Services Association gave a guarded welcome to the Budget proposals on piloting household charging schemes but questioned why there was a delay in getting trials underway.
Dirk Hazell, ESA chief executive, said: “ESA has for years advocated piloting in the current Parliament of direct charging of householders for management of their waste. Direct charging creates no incentive to fly-tip and need not be regressive. We do not know what “further work…to consider the practicalities” is needed. A study by Ernst & Young laid the foundations last year, we have just had the Strategy Unit undertaking a sectoral review, there has been an inter-Departmental Ministerial Group for some months and there are precedents in other utilities and other countries.”
Register for free to comment