Waste law interpretation could cost councils thousands

That is the fear of the local government sector, four months after Defra issued a clarification of UK waste legislation stating that local authorities are legally obliged to dispose of “schedule 2” waste for free (see letsrecycle.com story).

Councils have assessed that if they move to a 'full compliance' in accordance with Defra's interpretation, there are major operational, financial and environmental consequences to consider.

 
Cllr Paul Bettison, LGA

The LGA has now written to environment minister Joan Ruddock warning of the “cost burden” from councils complying with the requirement, which along with waste from charities views waste from schools, hospitals and prisons as effectively “household” waste.

The letter from the LGA's environment board chairman, Cllr Paul Bettison, said one council had told him the move could cost it alone £420,000 a year extra.

Another said it would mean the need to dispose of an additional 20,000 tonnes of material – which would count towards landfill targets.

Cllr Bettison said requiring councils to dispose of schools and hospital waste entirely free of charge would “pointlessly” shift costs from one part of government to another. He said the move would give less incentive for the institutions themselves to cut down on their waste production, since they would not pay for disposal.

And, he suggested that it would create inequalities among local authorities, explaining that for institutions like hospitals, which serve a region rather than a single local authority area, requiring one council to dispose of its waste would be unfair.

Cllr Bettison said: “Councils have assessed that if they move to a 'full compliance' in accordance with Defra's interpretation, there are major operational, financial and environmental consequences to consider.”

He added: “Schedule 2 waste producers have caused the most concern among councils. The clarifications mean that councils would be expected to offer free disposal of waste from hospitals, schools/colleges etc, prisons, barracks, care homes etc – something that is not currently common practice. It has some serious implications.”

Instead, Cllr Bettison said that the laws should be “updated” to reflect current practices – whereby most councils charge for waste collection and disposal.

He said: “We believe Schedule 1 and 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 could be amended in the short term to remove the entitlement of the waste producers mentioned to free waste disposal (not requiring primary legislation).”

Big waves

In his letter, Cllr Bettison warned that Defra's new interpretation of waste management law had created “quite big waves” among local authorities. He said he'd had a lot of representation from his colleagues.

This included Merseyside, that warned that if it had to move into full compliance, it would have a possible extra 20,000 tonnes of material entering the municipal waste stream.

And, Portsmouth city council said full compliance would mean additional costs as high as £420,000 for its Council Taxpayers.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com on Friday, Portsmouth waste development manager Ashley Chaplin confirmed that the issue of free waste disposal for public and health bodies was of great concern to local authorities.

The Hampshire unitary council has calculated that if it offered a free disposal service for “schedule 2” waste, it would result in 7% more waste requiring council disposal – which he claimed Portsmouth does not have the infrastructure to deal with.

Mr Chaplin explained that at present, Portsmouth was issuing a holding response to any public body requesting a free disposal service, until the issue was resolved.

He said: “Until we have had a proper strategic debate with Defra, the Treasury and Cabinet Office we will not make a decision on how to go forward. The legislation is significantly vague to withstand most enquiries but that is not the game we wish to play – we need to find a sustainable solution.”

Trade waste and WEEE

Within his letter dated February 15, Cllr Bettison also sought clarification on trade waste issues and WEEE.

On trade waste rules, he warned that Defra's interpretation appeared to require councils to offer trade waste collection services direct to local businesses, rather than being able to “arrange” collections by passing inquiries on to a private sector waste company.

Since running a trade collection direct would mean more waste counting towards council landfill targets, Cllr Bettison suggested councils ought to be allowed to continue “arranging” trade waste collections rather than running them. He also suggested that councils should be able to require businesses to separate waste for recycling under trade waste schemes.

On WEEE, the LGA said concerns had been expressed by local authorities about the apparent conflict with the WEEE Regulations in terms of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) arising from hospitals.

If waste from hospitals is deemed “household” waste, local authorities would have to pay for disposal, but the producer responsibility WEEE Regulations states that electronics producers are only responsible for WEEE from “private households”.