Author Information: Peter Jones is director of external affairs at Biffa. With 18 years of experience in the industry, he is often in the national media raising awareness on waste issues and has consistently argued for waste policies to join up with policies on energy and climate change. He was awarded an OBE in June of this year for services to the environment.Peter Jones looks at the pros and cons of the pre-treatment regulations
Somewhat like the swamp dwelling Australian fish that lives for years in the dry caked mud of river beds but then springs into life during intermittent monsoonal rains, the waste Pre-Treatment Regulations have finally been dusted off from lengthy hibernation in the recesses of the Landfill Directive.
Born amidst general uncertainly with regard to regulatory interpretation (in Scotland compaction on the vehicle will provide the ‘get out of jail' card!) their appearance has mustered a wide variety of reactions including that of indifference to frenetic communications between waste producers and their removal agents.
With relatively low levels of consultation in advance, the law of unintended consequences has seen a separation of liability for operation and implementation.
Waste and recycling carriers have access to the proof but the burden of proof lies with landfillers. This poses no problems for integrated waste and material recovery companies but for others, the potential for misunderstanding is significant.
There is good news, however, insofar as these Regulations are but a bureaucratic warm up for anticipating the hard economic impact of next year's £8 per tonne increase which will drive gate fees through the £40 per tonne barrier toward Buzz Lightyear's “infinity and beyond”.
The Pre-Treatment Regulations are a pill many will swallow without understanding the illness from which they are suffering.
For the enlightened few, however, they present an early mover opportunity to get into shape for the post landfill waste and resources landscape, with the added bonus that we can blame the government as we reshape our sector!
In the long run, we will look back and see how sharp increases in the landfill tax really drove rapid expansion in alternative technologies, boosted by rapid growth in the economies of China and India, and the boost that provided for real price increases in the commodities we have so assiduously been stockpiling in geological time capsules for the last 2 decades.
Read what Biffa's Nick Gregg thinks about pre-treatment in the news section of letsrecycle.com
Register for free to comment