According to the Landfill Allowance Scheme (LAS) report, in 2008/09 all councils in Wales were within their 2009/10 allocation for reducing the amount of biodegradable waste they send to landfill, compared to 2007/08 where only 11 local authorities were within the 2009/10 targets.
Every Welsh local authority has now met this first EU target a year early, this is an excellent achievement
Jane Davidson, Welsh environment minister
The country as a whole is 16% below the first EU Landfill Directive Target allowance for 2009/10.
The figures represent the fifth consecutive year that Wales has managed to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill under the LAS, which limits the amount of biodegradable municipal waste Welsh councils can landfill.
They reveal that councils in Wales sent 599,703 tonnes of biodegradable waste to landfill in 2008/9, compared to the landfill allowance allocation of 788,000 tonnes, representing a reduction of 154,879 tonnes in the amount of biodegradable waste land-filled across Wales over the past two years.
Welcoming the results, the Welsh environment minister, Jane Davidson, said: “These new figures are great news and show how councils are making significant progress in changing the way we deal with our waste. Every Welsh local authority has now met this first EU target a year early, this is an excellent achievement. I want to congratulate all of them for all their hard work and commitment.”
“I now want to build on this progress. The increase in the recycling of separately collected food waste will be vital for local authorities to meet the next EU target set for 2013. Councils who exceed their targets face significant fines, which would not be good for the taxpayer,” she added.
In the executive summary of the report, the EA Wales claimed that improved performance over the past four years had put Wales in a “good position” to meet its 2010 diversion target but that it would have to “step up” to achieve allowance allocations for 2013 and 2020.
WLGA
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) – which represents local authority interests in Wales – welcomed the publication of the results and also called for increased investment from the Government to ensure future improvements.
Councillor Aled Roberts, WLGA environment spokesperson, said: “This is an excellent achievement and reflects the hard work and commitment that Welsh councils have invested in tackling one of Wales' most biggest and difficult challenges – waste.”
“To maintain the success in achieving increasingly challenging targets, the WLGA urges the Assembly Government to guarantee the indicative increases in budgets for recycling activities so that local authorities can continue to expand on services and make recycling as easy as possible for the people of Wales,” he added.
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