Tory group criticises Defra stance on waste

Defra was accused yesterday of viewing waste as a liability rather than an asset by the chair of a group of Conservative MPs who have launched a policy paper, as part of work aimed at modernising the Conservative Party.

The criticism of Defra came from 2020 Conservatives productivity and efficiency group which is also calling for the waste brief to be removed from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and passed to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Speaking at the official launch of the Sweating our Assets report yesterday (February 4), Laura Sandys, MP for South Thanet, who led the development of the proposals, argued that there needed to be a change in perception from waste to resource which she would push from the backbenches.

And, while Ms Sandys admitted she had not spoken to ministers at Defra on waste policy, she believed they knew a different approach was needed.

The 2020 Conservatives group is calling for modern, fair and inclusive politics within the Conservative Party and besides its call to move the waste brief (see letsrecycle.com story). It also wants support for a new growing business sector called ReMade in Britain. And, the 2020 group is also arguing that landfill bans for materials including wood, plastics, textiles and food would avoid landfill costs worth an estimated 1 billion per year.

Opportunities

Expanding on the policies, Ms Sandys told letsrecycle.com: We need to push this forward and I think what we need to do is get the industry to be vocal about the opportunities presented in our report. It is about ensuring we have regulation that is helping business and not one that is crushing it.

The next step is to present report to a whole raft of people including policymakers. Two backbench MPs came up to me today and told me how great they thought the document was there is definitely a sense that this is something that will grow.

But speaking at the launch of the report, Greg Barker, minister at the Department of Energy & Climate Change, seemed less eager to support the departmental switch.

Asked what the mechanics behind the move from Defra to BIS would entail, Mr Barker said it was be pretty difficult to imagine such a change, but commented it would make a very interesting idea for a manifesto.

Caution

The proposed overhaul of Defras waste policy has largely been welcomed by the industry, but some organisations have urged caution.

Ray Georgeson, chief executive of the reprocessing sector trade body the Resource Association, said: “It is notable that the report recommends landfill bans for key materials in the interests of resource security. We support this in principle, but emphasise that they will only be effective if combined with the sort of industry measures proposed in the report to boost end market development and also combined with caps on key materials going to incineration.

“We also support the structural change in policy lead proposed, from Defra to BIS, as an important indicator of the future role of the resources industry.”

Waste management sector body the Environmental Services Association (ESA) also showed support for the proposal to have BIS involved in policy around waste and resources, but said that landfill bans would pose difficulties for the waste industry.

ESAs director general Barry Dennis, added: The Conservative 2020 report raises a number of valid points, and we are interested to see that they recommend that responsibility for waste and resources should sit with BIS rather than Defra. This is consistent with the recommendation that ESA made in its Circular Economy report Going for Growth A Practical Route to a Circular Economy that there should be a BIS Ministerial post created to lead on Resource Efficiency across government.

However, ESA is cautious of the recommendation on landfill bans. While we all want to reduce the amount of valuable resources being lost to the economy, managing and enforcing such bans would pose significant practical difficulties.