Defra has said in the strategy document that it is considering measuring local authorities' performance “on the average amount of household waste per person that is not re-used, recycled or composted.”
This would mean performance indicators for reducing waste and keeping it to a minimum and would most likely to be in addition to the targets already set down.
These include those for recycling and composting (the national target for 2007/08 is 20% of municipal waste), as well as the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS), which see councils fined for exceeding set limits on biodegradable landfill.
The waste strategy also proposes setting a “floor target” – a minimum level for reducing waste and increasing recycling and composting – that all local authorities would have to meet.
It is also considering how to include home composting and waste re-use by charity organisations because at the moment only material collected under local authority control is measured.
Emissions
In the long-term, Defra is looking at drawing up targets that “would reflect total greenhouse gas emissions from a local authority's waste management activity”. Defra has put forward no suggestions as to how this could work and said in the waste strategy that consideration would need to be given to a “methodology”.
Framework
The waste strategy proposes a new local authority performance framework which draws influence from two documents. The first is a white paper called Strong and Prosperous Communities, drawn up in 2006.
The second is the Sir Michael Lyons inquiry into the role and function of local government which recommended that “government should recognise more fully the fact that effective waste management is a shared responsibility between central and local government”. It also suggested that greater local flexibility was needed to manage waste locally.
Under the new framework outlined in the waste strategy, the government is to extend and strengthen its Local Area Agreements (LAAs) so that all county and unitary authorities will have to draw one up.
LAA
The LAA must include a single set of targets for improvement, tailored to local needs but agreed between central government and local organisations. Defra has said it will “introduce as a duty for local authorities and other local partners to work together to agree the priorities in the LAA.”
According to the waste strategy, this means: “Central government will focus on the things that really matter to people everywhere, guaranteeing national minimum standards but leaving room for local innovation and local priorities.”
Partnerships
The waste strategy emphasises the importance of local authority partnerships and Defra's research suggests “most local authorities could benefit from economies of scale through cooperating with other authorities”.
The strategy refers to the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill, which reached the report stage in the Commons this week.
This will remove the barriers preventing local authorities from joining together to form waste authorities.
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It will allow them to combine as new legal entities that would be governed by elected representatives to ensure public accountability. Any new waste proposals would require public consultation and key decisions such as alternate weekly collection schemes and financial incentive schemes would have to be agreed unanimously by the joint-authority board.
Defra's Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme (WIDP) is to produce a guidance package.
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