The publication, entitled ‘Consultation on meeting EU landfill diversion targets', seeks views on the changes necessary to ensure the UK meets its targets after the definition of municipal waste – and consequently targets – are changed to bring them more in line with the rest of Europe.
However, other member states currently use a wider definition which encompasses much more commercial and industrial waste and excludes construction and demolition waste – prompting the plans to change the definition.
The consultation looks at setting out a new interpretation of municipal waste; revising the 1995 baseline on which the UK's landfill diversion targets are based; and, reporting and monitoring obligations.
The move to change the definition was heralded as ‘long overdue' when first announced in December 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story) but concerns have still been raised that targets might become more difficult to meet.
However, an initial assessment carried out by Defra and highlighted in the consultation indicates that this is not the case – and that no additional measures – on top of existing mechanisms such as the Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme and landfill tax – are expected to be needed to meet the revised goals.
The department said: “Defra's provisional assessment is that the UK's progress towards meeting the new targets is similar to the previous approach: that is, we are confident of meeting the 2010 target but further progress is needed to meet the 2013 and 2020 targets.”
Commercial and industrial
The consultation explains that if the definition of municipal waste is changed, a lot of commercial and industrial waste, currently handled by the private sector, will come under the scope of the Landfill Directive.
In order to monitor this extra waste, Defra does not propose to extend the coverage of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme, which sees councils given a decreasing number of landfill allowances each year which they can use, bank or borrow.
Instead, it favours measuring BMW-to-landfill based on returns made by landfill site operators – a system which it says is already established and therefore is more attractive. It also suggests that the Environment Agency and WRAP make assessments of the wastes' biodegradable content.
Despite the change, the consultation proposes to retain WasteDataFlow (WDF) – the government database which is currently used for landfill diversion reporting purposes.
Defra said: “WDF is the officially designated source of data for reporting against the three waste related National Indicators within the Local Government Performance Framework. Furthermore, we anticipate WDF being used as a source of data in relation to the target in the revised Waste Framework Directive to recycle 50% of household waste, and possibly waste from other origins similar to household waste.”
LATS
Due to the direct “link” between LATS allocations and the EU landfill diversion targets being broken, Defra also uses the opportunity to seek views on the effectiveness of the scheme and whether it should be retained in future.
It points out that the scheme has been very successful to date, and could continue to contribute 50% of the landfill diversion targets following the change to the definition of waste.
However, it also acknowledges that the scheme has had its drawbacks- such as providing a disincentive for councils to collect trade waste – and might no longer be needed.
It said: “As LATS will no longer be a tool to specifically address the whole of the new interpretation of municipal waste it could be argued that retaining it to do part of the task, particularly if other tools are available, is not a sensible approach. It places an additional burden on local authorities, which is not placed on the private sector. In addition the current operation of the scheme has provided some unwanted outcomes.”
The consultation closes on June 10 2010.
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