The row has broken out because a number of the boroughs wanted to switch from a system of charging on a per capita basis to a per tonne basis for their waste disposal. A vote on the matter must be unanimous to change the system, a change that is seen as promoting waste minimisation.
But Hackney and Waltham Forest councils vetoed the proposal at a meeting of the NWLA earlier this month, a move that provoked outrage from their partner boroughs Barnet and Enfield.
Under the tonnage system, the more successful a council is at minimising household rubbish and encouraging recycling and composting, the less it delivers for disposal and the less it would therefore have to pay.
Sticking with the old system, however, in which local authorities are charged according to the total number of households paying council tax, the statement said that Barnet ends up paying around 3.5 million more than Waltham Forest and 4.5 million more than Hackney despite being the best authority in the NWLA at waste minimisation and recycling.
Barnet Council’s cabinet member for environment, Councillor Brian Coleman, said: “Barnet's record on recycling is good and improving but I realise there is more that can be done to reduce waste. That’s why I proposed we move to a tonnage-based levy, which reflects the service each authority gets from the NLWA and encourages us to work together to turn our waste into a resource. The decision of Waltham Forest and Hackney has severely undermined our efforts to stem the tide of household waste.”
Costs
Hackney and Waltham Forest are thought to have blocked the change because their recycling rates are very low, and therefore the change to a tonnage levy would see the costs of disposal rise by as much as 1.3 million a year for each borough.
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