That was the warning from Lester Hicks, head of waste and minerals planning division at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, speaking in a meeting of waste industry and local authorities in Parliament yesterday.
Mr Hicks, who is currently working on the government's consultation on changes to planning policy and the new PPS10 guidance document, said that it was time to “end the excuses” and that if councils were going to rule out incineration, they should start planning for the many more recycling plants that would be needed to replace it.
Otherwise, waste targets would be missed, and the UK would face fines of 500,000 a day for failure to comply with the Landfill Directive, he said. Mr Hicks also pointed out that because “waste” is involved, planning proposals for recycling plants can be just as unpopular among local residents as incineration projects.
“It's time to end the talking and do the strategic planning,” he said. “If the community doesn't want an incinerator, fine. But you'd; better start planning for a lot more recycling facilities instead.”
MBT
Mr Hicks also commented on the rising popularity of mechanical biological treatment proposals, seen by many councils as an alternative to incineration.
He said: “A lot of people are going for MBT – but you have got to have long-term markets lined up for the end product. If you're going to have piles of this stuff lying around, the Agency wants to know what you're going to do with it.
“You might send it to incinerator or landfill, which would be moving down the waste hierarchy, but if you're going to do that you need to start planning for these disposal facilities now,” Mr Hicks said.
Mr Hicks was speaking at the Environmental Services Association conference, which was looking at “the Future of Waste Management”.
Disposal
The rising popularity of recycling and alternative routes for waste treatment meant that councils are forgetting about the need for disposal options, Mr Hicks warned, pointing out that even with a 50% recycling rate, half of municipal waste still needs a disposal facility available.
“Drive hard for recycling,” he said, “But don't get yourself boxed in in planning terms by leaving out facilities for disposal.”
Mr Hicks added that planning is not the end of the story, and that even if planning permission has been granted, it can take several months – or even years – for Pollution Prevention and Control permits to be granted by regulators.
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The government is currently consulting on planning guidance for waste management facilities, with a proposed PPS10 document on the table to replace the PPG10. Mr Hicks said the government is considering dropping the Best Practical Environmental Option requirement in planning new waste plants, for a more flexible environmental control.
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