Speaking on GMTV this morning, the Prime Minister stepped into the national debate over councils switching to alternate week collections for waste and recycling, revealing that he remains a “traditionalist” on the subject.
– Tony Blair
And, today saw the London Mayor Ken Livingstone backing the doubts expressed by the Prime Minister, saying he believed fortnightly residual collections are not right for the capital.
In response, local authorities expressed disappointment that Mr Blair was not more supportive of councils seeking to meet his government's recycling targets.
And, while local authorities took Mr Blair's comments as a hint of a future move to charging for waste collections by weight, the government suggested it referred to recycling incentive schemes.
Blair
Tony Blair, who is now expected to announce his resignation as Prime Minister after 10 years in office on May 10, said this morning that it was for local councils to decide what was best for their local area.
But, he said: “In the end I am a traditionalist on this one, to be absolutely frank. I think it is perfectly understandable why councils want to do it because of recycling and everything, but there may be better ways of doing it.”
The Prime Minister's sentiments were backed by London Mayor Ken Livingstone today, who said that alternate weekly collections were not suitable for urban areas like London. Mr Livingstone was commenting on the first fortnightly schemes being tried in some of London's outer boroughs (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Livingstone said: “I am not convinced that the research carried out in rural areas applies to the high rise, high density buildings in some London boroughs. Some Harrow councillors have raised concerns with my office that this policy has led to confusion with the public as to which days they could recycle.”
He added: “I suspect that alternate weekly collections are more about cutting costs that improving recycling rates. I am concerned that the boroughs are not looking for easier ways to increase recycling in the capital. It is clear that the boroughs are introducing this without understanding the effects on environmental hygiene and the rodent population.”
”With all the issues of climate change and EU fines, the traditional approach to waste management is not necessarily appropriate. “
– Joy Blizzard, LARAC
Councils
LARAC, which represents hundreds of local authority recycling officers across the UK, told letsrecycle.com it was “disappointed” that the Prime Minister had not been supportive of councils operating alternate weekly collections, and that he had not recognised publicly that the system boosted recycling.
Joy Blizzard said a “radical” rather than a “traditional” approach was needed in waste management to meet recycling and landfill diversion targets.
She said: “LARAC is disappointed that Tony Blair did not use the opportunity to support those local authorities that operate AWC, and underline how the system boosts recycling rates.”
“Whilst Mr Blair has called himself a 'traditionalist' LARAC suggests that with all the issues of climate change and EU fines, the traditional approach to waste management is not necessarily appropriate and radical change is needed to meet targets.”
Local
The Local Government Association agreed with the Prime Minister that decisions over alternate weekly collections need to be taken at a local level. But, the organisation dismissed Mr Blair's views over whether fortnightly collections are the right way to meet recycling targets as an attempt to raise support for Labour in this week's local elections.
An LGA spokesman even suggested that the Prime Minister's reference to “better ways of doing it” hinted at a future move to pay-as-you-throw charging systems for household waste.
He said: “I can't think of other ways to change behaviour without compulsory charging of residents.”
Downing Street
A spokesman for 10 Downing Street denied that Mr Blair's comments were linked to the forthcoming local elections. He said it was not for central government to decide over variable charging and said that any development as regarded pay-as-you-throw would come out in the upcoming Waste Strategy.
However, the spokesman suggested that the “better ways” of boosting recycling could be taken to refer to recycling incentives, such as vouchers and competitions, as piloted in Defra's incentives pilot programme (see letsrecycle.com story).
He said: “With regards to the better ways of increasing recycling, certainly Defra have funded various pilots on recycling incentives and some have had dramatic effects.”
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Defra
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted today that Mr Blair's comments were consistent with its message that alternate weekly collections could be one option open to local authorities, but not necessarily in all areas.
A spokeswoman for Defra said that it would be publishing a report later this month looking at the results of its incentive scheme pilot project.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme, which has been tasked with giving local authorities advice on the best way to collect waste for recycling, would not comment on the Prime Minister's statement today. However, it stated that as a rule, it did not advocate one particular way of collecting waste and recyclables.
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