The new legislation will lead to waste disposal authorities trading allowances for the amount of biodegradable waste they can send to landfill each year.
The government bill passed through the House of Lords last week following a heated debate in the House of Commons. The bill is the first stage of introducing the Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme (LATS), which will be the government's key measure in meeting landfill reduction targets required by the Landfill Directive.
Speaking to the House of Commons, environment minister Elliot Morley said that the WET Bill and the LATS to follow will see the UK catching up with its European neighbours on its waste responsibilities.
Mr Morley said: “Although it is true that many European countries have a longer and better established system of recycling than our country and we are pushing forward to catch up, the Bill will introduce what we understand to be the first trading scheme in the world involving waste.”
He added: “I believe that the Bill will introduce pioneering new techniques that will influence other countries.”
By allowing local authorities to trade available landfill space, it is hoped that some flexibility will be provided while the total UK landfill rate is guaranteed to meet European targets of 75% of 1995 waste levels by 2010, 50% by 2013 and 35% by 2020.
Experts in the local authority sector believe fines for local authorities that landfill more material than their allowances permit could amount to 200 per tonne. And, this amount would not include the possibility of the government passing on to failing councils fines from the EU resulting from the UK's non-compliance with the Landfill Directive.
Incinerators
Opposition parties had warned Parliament that the WET Bill could lead to an increase in the amount of waste going to incinerators in the UK as local authorities urgently seek to divert material away from landfill.
Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Norman Baker said: “The bill gets landfill provisions right in line with the EU directive but goes wrong by failing to ask what will happen to waste that is not landfilled, and whether we should try to encourage particular schemes. The bill does not discourage incineration, which is now officially a disposal technique.”
Conservative MP Bill Wiggin warned that the WET Bill did nothing to address the UK's lack of treatment facilities for hazardous waste and would not be enough to meet Landfill Directive targets.
Mr Wiggin warned: “The amount of waste produced is growing, which, combined with the fact that the amount sent to landfill is massively more than the amount allowed, makes the reality of fulfilling the landfill directive a mere dream.”
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