London Mayor told to reaffirm his commitment to recycling

Ms Heath said that she fears that the single waste authority could become an issue for the Mayor as last month, Ken Livingstone reiterated that he wanted a single waste disposal authority to manage waste in London. At that time the Mayor also said he did not have the powers to deliver the strategy he wants and would be asking the government for more powers.

Councillor Heath said: “A single waste authority may have some merits and I would support the single waste authority. Certainly the Mayor should work far more effectively with the boroughs to deliver waste minimisation, 16 waste authorities is not the most helpful. But it is not the only way and there are many other obstacles.”

Ms Heath urged caution and said that there should be proper consultation on the subject and said she would not support changing all the contracts which might take a few years.

Ms Heath called on the Mayor to take the lead and set a 60% recycling target for the capital. The Assembly, in its report on the London waste strategy,believes that the Mayor’s failure to do this signifies his lack of commitment to recycling and will see more incinerators being built despite the fact that the Mayor is strongly opposed to incineration. “I believe the Mayor wants a recycling-led strategy without incinerators, but he is not telling us how it can be achieved. And the shame of it is, it is entirely possible.”

The committee recommended in its report that the Mayor should:

• Set a target for London to recycle 60% of its municipal waste by 2015
• Place greater emphasis on the role of London’s community sector in delivering the strategy
• Clearly state the implementation costs and timetable for the strategy
• Urge the operators of London’s two incinerators to make their emissions data publicly available.

Ms Heath said London should be taking the lead on recycling with an ambitious business and action plan for recycling. “There is a large amount of waste in London and it is easier to develop industry based on this than elsewhere in the country. For example there is at least two million tonnes of compost which is a very promising basis and should lead to investment.”