Concerns have been expressed that the UK may be too close to the first Landfill Directive target – now just five years away – for a re-arrangement of London waste management responsibilities to be made.
” The transition to a single waste authority may slow down the momentum we currently have in London – there is usually a slow down with major reorganisation.“
– Mike Nichols, West London Waste Authority
Earlier this month Mayor Ken Livingstone outlined his proposal for a single waste authority in London, which would deal with the treatment and disposal of waste from almost 8 million residents (letsrecycle.com story)
Mr Livingstone has described the single waste authority as having similar capabilities in the waste sector as Transport for London has in the city's local transport system. London's waste disposal authorities are currently looking over the proposals, and have been invited to make comments on them, albeit informally.
Time
However, speaking to letsrecycle.com this week, some waste officers have expressed personal fears that the Mayor's move towards a single body for waste may have come at the wrong time.
Mike Nichols, general manager at one of London's four joint disposal authorities, the West London Waste Authority, said: “Personally I have been in favour of a single waste authority for a long time. But I have reservations that perhaps the timing is off.
“The transition to a single waste authority may slow down the momentum we currently have in London – there is usually a slow down with major reorganisation. With targets looming it is too crucial a time to take this step,” he added.
Greater London currently recycles about 13% of the 3.326 million tonnes of household waste produced each year. Under the Landfill Directive, the UK must reduce the landfilling of biodegradable municipal waste to 75% of 1995 levels. By 2013 this must drop to just half of the amount of landfilling seen in 1995.
Investment
The Mayor believes the single waste authority would save the capital millions of pounds through improved efficiencies, but another concern among waste officers is that the changes of responsibilities could disrupt investment that is already in motion.
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Steven Didsbury, waste and recycling officer at the unitary council of the London borough of Bexley, said: “A single waste authority may have been a good thing in 2000 when we had a few years to put things right, but now it is too close. People will be put off making decisions and spending money because there will be the fear that it will be a wasted investment a year down the line.”
Meanwhile, officers believe the concept of a single waste authority depends less on the Mayor's wishes and more with the government's wider review of arrangements for London local government, being carried out by the Commission for London Government.
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