Leicestershire to reward districts for recycling

The East Midlands county's residents presently recycle or compost 42% of their rubbish but the county council wants to increase this rate to avoid fines under LATS (Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme) for landfilling biodegradable waste.

It predicts that county-wide, another 15,000 tonnes of dry recyclables must be captured by 2008/09, as well as 9,000 tonnes of compostable material.

The obligation to divert waste from landfill falls on the county council as the disposal authority rather than the districts, who collect it. The county council believes that offering cash payments from the £300,000 pot to Leicestershire's seven district councils will help increase landfill diversion and recycling efforts.

Cabinet member for waste Councillor Brian Page said: “By spending £300,000 per year on this scheme, we believe we can boost recycling and avoid landfill fines. That's got to be a good deal for taxpayers and for the environment.”

Proposal

The county council's waste management department has drawn up a report suggesting how the scheme might work.

Under Defra's recycling credit scheme, the county council has a statutory duty to pay credits to the districts for every tonne of material they recycle. This is so they can benefit from the savings made by avoiding landfill tax and fines. The current value for a recycling credit in Leicestershire is £40.

The county's new financial scheme proposes two elements. Firstly, a payment equal to double the recycling credit for increasing both reuse and the diversion of biodegradable waste from landfill. It also suggests a one-off capital payment could be made to “pump prime” a particular project or scheme.

The second element would be a payment equal to one-and-a-half times the recycling
credit for recycling or reusing materials which do not impact directly on LATS.

The cabinet is to consider the proposal at a meeting on August 7 and if it is approved, it is expected the scheme will be up and running this financial year. Districts will have to apply to join the voluntary scheme.

Funds

In 2007/08, funds will come from Defra's Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant and in 2008/09, the money set aside by the county to implement the waste strategy will be used.

The council believes that the cost of this scheme will be similar to or less than other proposed measures to meet landfill diversion targets and will help also cut the costs of landfill disposal.

It is considering capping the amount that can be paid out to a single district and any scheme which is already financially supported from other sources may not qualify.