The Assembly, which is the regional planning body for the South East, accused Ken Livingstone's waste plan of being “flawed” because it “omitted forecasts for waste exports to landfill sites in other regions” and focused only on municipal waste.
The chairman of the Assembly's regional planning committee, Keith Mitchell, said: “In our own regional waste strategy, we propose that landfilling of municipal waste decreases from 85% to 20% by 2025. We receive over three million tonnes of waste from London every year. We expect it to make similar reductions to exports to the South East.”
Call
The Assembly called for a revised version of the strategy to include “clear targets” for how exports of London's waste to other counties should change. Mr Mitchell explained: “I applaud many of the policies and themes in the plan, especially the proposal to exceed statutory recycling targets. However, if these are not met, London will continue to export waste to other regions and we therefore need a clearer commitment about future exports.”
Municipal waste
Municipal waste makes up less than a quarter of London's waste, the Assembly argued. “If all waste streams were considered, it would enable synergies between collection and management of the different streams to be properly planned and provided for,” it said.
The Assembly represents local authorities, businesses and community groups across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of the Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire and Surrey.
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