Keeping the lid on landfill

Almost lost in the avalanche of consultation papers put out during the summer by Government is the 250-page report by the Committee on Climate Change, Meeting Carbon Budgets 2013 Progress Report to Parliament. Referring to waste management sources, the report highlights landfill emissions, although falling in absolute terms, still accounting for 82% of greenhouse gas emissions from the sector.

The decline in emissions since 1990 (64%) almost exactly mirrors the fall in the tonnage of biodegradable municipal waste dispatched to landfill. No doubt this can be attributed to the UKs principal policy response to the hard targets for landfill diversion contained in the Landfill Directive landfill tax.

But with the next phase of the Directive currently under consultation and the European Commission talking about potentially phasing out landfill over the next 10-15 years, the question arises as to whether further reductions in the UKs landfill emissions can only be achieved through additional policy measures.

The report highlights two such measures applying stronger levers, particularly targeting household food waste, and bans on major sources of biodegradable waste [such as food and textiles] from landfill. The report points out that unlike Scotland and Wales, separate collection of food waste is not mandatory in England, and consequently the provision of this service by local authorities is very patchy. Additionally, landfill bans are to be introduced in Scotland and Wales, but not in England.

Ambition

Wales and Scotland have embraced far more ambitious waste management programmes and policy interventions but with England accounting for over 90% of the UKs waste arisings and waste management-related emissions, their cumulative effect in reducing UK emissions will not amount to much.

What England does or more to the point, does not do is the key. If the recent consultations are anything to go by, the signs so far are that Defra is intent on keeping the lid on any new initiatives, believing they will only increase the regulatory burden on English businesses.