Councils will be left to justify the use of energy-from-waste as a preferred treatment method as the coalition government looks to take a less “top down” view of waste, the new waste and recycling minister has claimed.
We will do all we can to promote their benefits but it will be for the local authorities to think about why it is better for them rather than recycling or reusing that material
Lord Henley, waste and recycling minister
Speaking to letsrecycle.com yesterday (June 15), Lord Henley explained that while the government would “do what it can” to promote the benefits of energy-from-waste facilities as part of the waste hierarchy, it would be up to councils to explain their merits to local communities.
Lord Henley, who was appointed to the role of recycling minister in the wake of the formation of the coalition government, stressed that the government did not intend to take a “top down” approach to delivering waste strategy at a local level.
Commenting on energy recovery, he said: “I have seen models for incineration plants producing sustainable energy from waste, that is definitely a message we want to get across to people.
“There has been hostility to such plants in the past and people are not realising that they are not the big, bad, dirty, polluting monsters that they seem.”
In addition, the Conservative peer pointed to the impact of the Landfill Tax escalator – which rose to £48 per tonne for residual waste disposal to landfill in April 2010 – as one of the key drivers encouraging councils to investigate measures such as energy-from-waste as a disposal route.
Performance
And, Lord Henley pointed to the performance of other nations, such as Germany, which have successfully incorporated waste-to-energy recovery into their waste strategies to reduce waste to landfill to around 1%. However, the minister stressed that he did not want to encourage a “dash for trash” where waste is generated “purely to burn it”.
Lord Henley said: “We will do all we can to promote their benefits but it will be for the local authorities to think about why it is better for them rather than recycling or reusing that material, which are all preferably to sending it landfill. Particularly if they are going to have to pay a tax on landfilling it.”
Furthermore, Lord Henley reiterated the government's desire to “use the carrot and not the stick” when it comes to working with local authorities, which echoes the sentiments outlined by communities secretary Eric Pickles last week (see letsrecycle.com story).
The minister made the comments at the Futuresource event at the ExCeL Centre in London's Docklands, which is set to run from June 15 to June 17 and showcase innovations and advances in the field of waste and recycling.
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