Questionnaires sent out every year by DEFRA, the Environment Agency, the Welsh Assembly, the Department for the Environment Northern Ireland and SEPA will replaced by one simplified questionnaire and the results shown in a single, national database.
The survey will be trialled for three months beginning in January 2004 in Hampshire, East Sussex, three Northern Ireland authorities and the whole of Wales. It will come in nationally in April, when ownership and funding will be taken over by a board representing government departments and agencies.
Consultation
The WasteDataFlow project is organised by the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management Environmental Body (CIWM (EB)) and was developed after consultation with local authorities, CapitalWasteFacts and WRAP.
Ivan Good, executive administrator of CIWM (EB), said: “At the moment each year local authorities receive questionnaires from DEFRA, the Audit Commission and other bodies often looking to collect very similar or repetitive data… in our scoping study local authorities told us they were getting overwhelmed with paperwork and questionnaires and so we are trying to rationalise the process.”
Mr Good said WDF would immediately replace most of the government questionnaires, and would drastically reduce the number and length of questionnaires on waste by specialist bodies such as the Audit Commission. Eventually it hopes to incorporate all questionnaires on waste arisings, he said.
The project has already used 140,000 from Biffaward's Landfill Tax Credit Scheme to fund consultations since autumn 2001, and now has an extra 588,000 from the LTCS Legacy Fund for implementation.
Obligation
Councils are obligated to answer some questions, include those relating to the reduction of biodegradable waste sent to landfill and Best Value Performance Indicators. But only in Wales, where the Welsh Assembly has control, will councils have to answer all the questions.
The questionnaire will be completely electronic and councils will be able to analyse their performance and compare it with other authorities on a national database available on the internet. By making the WDF survey quarterly rather than annual, councils' progress will be more easily monitored against national and European targets, Mr Good said.
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