UK must “radically overhaul” how it deals with waste

The council body called on the government to set out clearly how it expects Britain to meet its landfill diversion targets for 2013 and 2020, as well as reiterating its calls for the return of landfill tax to councils to be invested in infrastructure and setting tougher targets for the commercial sector to reduce packaging.

There needs to be an urgent and radical overhaul of how the nation throws its rubbish away

 
Cllr Gary Porter, chair, LGA environment board

The call came as the LGA published research showing that the UK landfilled 19.9 million tonnes of municipal waste in 2007, more than five million tonnes more than the country landfilling the second most – Italy, with 14.7 million tonnes.

Although the UK figure in part reflects the fact that it has the second largest population of any EU member state, the figures also show that, Germany, which has the largest EU population, sent significantly less waste to landfill, disposing of just 464,340 tonnes in this way.

However, the figures also show the progress the UK has made in reducing waste to landfill – with a similar survey carried out by LGA in 2007 revealing that, in 2005, the UK sent 22.6 million tonnes of household waste to landfill (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, they do not reflect the steady increase in the proportion of the UK's waste that is recycled or composted rather than being sent to landfill, with England, Scotland and Wales all reporting continuing rises in their municipal waste recycling rates.

Figures published by the EU earlier this year also showed that the proportion of municipal waste landfilled by the UK in 2007 was significantly less than for a number of other EU countries (see letsrecycle.com story).

Despite this, a spokesman for the LGA claimed that “ultimately we're sending more waste to landfill than anyone else and, for councils, that is the issue”.

The LGA claims that there is a “serious risk” that the UK will meet its EU Landfill Directive target for 2013, which requires it cut the amount of biodegradable municipal waste it landfills to 50% of the 1995 level.

As a result, it claims councils and householders could face fines of up to £200 million, and the chair of the LGA's environment board, councillor Gary Porter, warned that, despite increases in recycling rates, the UK had a “long way to go” to avoid this.

“There needs to be an urgent and radical overhaul of how the nation throws its rubbish away. By going back on its undertaking to refund to councils the money raised through Landfill Tax, the government is making it much tougher for the UK to meet its rubbish targets.”

The LGA claims that the return of Landfill Tax to councils would allow them to invest in better recycling facilities and other infrastructure to divert waste from landfill, such as energy-from-waste plants (see letsrecycle.com story).

Cllr Porter also pointed towards the importance of councils investing in incentive schemes to boost recycling rates.

And, the LGA also said that “tougher” targets were needed for businesses to reduce packaging, claiming that this added to the amount of household waste – adding to its earlier claim that excessive packaging “undermines” householders' recycling efforts (see letsrecycle.com story).

Lib Dems

The LGA's research was cited by the Liberal Democrats as further proof that the government should prioritise waste reduction.

The party's shadow environment, food and rural affairs secretary, Tim Farron, said: “The Government must set out a strategy to massively cut all household waste by 2020.

“We must see councils given the freedom to experiment with waste charging and renewed efforts to curb excessive packaging. The law needs to be changed so that producers are responsible for all products that are difficult to recycle,” he added.