Mayoral candidates’ policies on waste

Ahead of the London Mayoral election on May 3, letsrecycle.com takes a look at the main candidates policies on waste and recycling.

While waste and recycling does not feature prominently in any of the main four parties manifestos there are some grounds of common interest, including the ultimate goal of zero waste to landfill and general support for anaerobic digestion.

However, unsurprisingly, there are also marked differences. For instance, Labour candidate Ken Livingstone said he will oppose any new incinerators whilst Boris Johnson aims to create as much energy as possible from non-recyclable waste. Meanwhile Green Party candidate Jenny Jones is aiming to remove packaging materials which cant be recycled from the shelves and Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick is looking to simplify the mix of plastics entering the waste stream.

Overall there are seven candidates in the running for the position of Mayor of London including one from the UK Independence Party, the British National Party and an independent candidate.

Conservative

Waste and recycling policies are thin on the ground in incumbent mayor Boris Johnsons manifesto with just one paragraph covering these.

Mr Johnson says he will continue to drive up the citys recycling rate whilst keeping taxes down. He says: Since I became Mayor, working with boroughs, recycling rates have increased from 25 per cent in 2007/08 to 32 per cent in 2010/11. I will continue to work with the boroughs and the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWaRB) to achieve our twin aims of increasing recycling and keeping council tax low.

While this sheds some light on his policies, Mr Johnsons business and municipal waste strategies published in November 2011 offer more insight (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Johnsons strategies outline several key targets for the citys businesses and households over the next 20 years as he aims to establish London as a world class manager of its municipal waste.

The strategies outline several key targets which are to:

• Achieve zero municipal waste direct to landfill by 2025
• Reduce the amount of waste produced per household from 970kg to 790kg by 2031
• Increase Londons capacity to reuse or repair from 6,000 tonnes-a-year to 30,000 by 2031
• Recycle or compost at least 60% by 2031
• Cut greenhouse emissions by one million tonnes by 2031
• Generate as much energy as possible from organic and non-recyclable waste

Labour

In his manifesto Mr Livingstone criticises Mr Johnsons work as Mayor with regard to waste and recycling and looks at his own past record while committing to support several goals including zero waste to landfill and setting up a recycling fund for flats.
In his 2012 manifesto Mr Livingstone says: While I was Mayor we improved the amount of waste that is recycled from eight to 25 percent. With a Conservative Mayor that total has crawled on to just 27 percent.

Elsewhere Mr Livingstone criticises the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWaRB) claiming that it has singularly failed to deliver. He also highlights the fact that his main rival Mr Johnson stepped down from the board after 18 months in charge (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Livingstone sets out several targets in his manifesto including the goal shared by Mr Johnson of zero waste to landfill by 2025.

He also states that he wants to create a pan-London minimum standard for what councils can collect for recycling and that on-the-go recycling point should be able to collect at least paper, cans, bottles and plastics.

Other key points laid out by Mr Livingstone include to:

• Clean up abandoned mattresses
• Agree a pan-London minimum for recycling
• Generate energy from waste food
• Set up a recycling in flats challenge support fund
• Stop zero waste to landfill by 2025
• Stop new incinerators

Under his plans for food waste Mr Livingstone says that he will support councils to develop at least one anaerobic digestion plant in every borough.

The last point sees the Labour candidate continue on his anti-incineration campaign stating that he will oppose the development of any new incinerators, including the energy-from-waste facility planned by Viridor at Beddington to serve the South London Waste Partnership (see letsrecycle.com story). He has also states that he will oppose extensions of existing incinerators because they crowd out recycling and cause harmful air pollution. Instead he said he will focus on reducing and reusing waste.

Whilst against building new incinerators Mr Livingstone says that he aims to find commercial deals to capture the huge volumes of heat that are being wasted at Londons incinerations, including SELCHP.

Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick is also aiming for a zero waste London but unlike his Conservative and Labour opponents he sets no specific time frame for achieving the target.

In his manifesto he says: The very idea of rubbish being thrown away should be a thing of the past. A great city like London cannot afford to waste its waste. We must set a long term goal of a closed loop approach, whereby use of materials is reduced, reused and where possible recycled for further use.

Through work with LWaRB Mr Paddick says he will set tough targets for reducing the amount of waste produced by individuals and businesses in the capital. He also says that working with the boroughs and LWaRB will help to achieve other goals such as:

• Introduce food waste collections in every borough
• Support moves to minimise packaging and simplify the mix of plastics entering the waste stream
• Improve recycling rates for flats
• Introduce a plastic bag levy similar to Wales and Northern Ireland
• Promote a London-wide online swap-shop

In his manifesto Mr Paddick also said that he wants to increase on-the-go recycling so that people can recycle when travelling around the city.

Green

In her manifesto Green Party candidate Jenny Jones outlines her plans for waste and recycling in the city saying she will achieve a zero waste to landfill by 2030 and an 80% recycling rate within the same time frame. In her manifesto she states: We can make it easy to reduce the waste we produce and recycle and compost it, building new facilities to reach 80% recycling rates with no waste going to landfill by 2030.

Notably in her manifesto she says she wants to work with boroughs and central government to ensure all Londoners can recycle in the same way.

Ms Jones says: Lobby the Government to give the Mayor power to roll out a consistent set of recycling services across London boroughs to end the confusing and unnecessary differences. In the meantime, push boroughs to ensure every home has a simple service for separated recyclables and food waste collected on a weekly basis.

In order to achieve the target of 80% recycling by 2030 she pledges to ensure the waste hierarchy is applied and to help London become self-sufficient in waste processing by 2030 by building more smaller facilities and eliminating mass incineration.

Her manifesto outlines her key focal points for the waste and recycling industry which includes:

• Become a zero waste city by 2030
• Reach an 80% recycling rate by 2030
• Make sure food waste is collected on a weekly basis
• Work with central government to ban carrier bags and reduce unnecessary packaging
• Remove material that cant be recycled from our shelves
• Become self-sufficient in waste processing by 2030

Ms Jones says in her manifesto she wants London to become self-sufficient in waste processing by 2030, building a new generation of small and smart waste facilities while blocking any that fail to meet our standards.

As part of this she will look to build smaller waste facilities to minimise the impact on any one community whilst moving away from landfill and mass-incineration facilities.

With the race expected to be between Mr Johnson and Mr Livingstone it will be interesting to see who, come May 3, will be held to their promise of achieving the ultimate goal zero waste London.