Waste management and recycling companies have become the latest to criticise yesterdays (June 14) Waste Review as a policy document lacking ambition and substance.
However, amid the general lukewarm responses from the sector, there has been a degree of support for the inclusion of efforts to increase work on commercial waste, as well as the emphasis on developing producer responsibility deals. The decision not to press councils to return to weekly waste collections has also been welcomed.
On the whole, the comments reflect those of political figures, campaign groups and trade associations, which offered a unified criticism of the 80-page publication and branded the long-awaited document as missed opportunity (see letsrecycle.com story).
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has already leapt to the defence of the Waste Review, defending the policy document against accusations that it lacked any new elements (see letsrecycle.com story).
One of the major concerns from the waste management sector was over the lack of a solid recycling target – beyond the European goal of 50% by 2020.
David Palmer-Jones, chief executive of SITA UK, said: The sentiment of the Review is not out of line with modern thinking on waste as a resource, but the lack of concrete actions to deliver from today on a zero waste economy is disappointing, and represents another missed opportunity to deal with 50 million tonnes of waste that stills ends up in landfill.
Mr Palmer-Jones did welcome the inclusion of Courtauld-style producer responsibility agreements in the document, which he said had met with success in the retail sector on the topic of packaging. He also welcomed the acknowledgement of the need to include incentives to help develop energy recovery infrastructure.
Ambition
Offering a more scathing appraisal, Tom Drury, chief executive of Shanks, said that the Waste Review should have followed the ambitions of the devolved administrations, which have set tougher recycling targets for the next decade. He also questioned how the policy document would help achieve the zero waste goal.
He said: We feared that the Review would be heavy on ambition and light on action, and, unfortunately, we were right. By not introducing new regulation to ensure compliance and not shortening timescales to encourage pace of change, it is unlikely to deliver the environmental and economic outcomes required to achieve the zero waste target.
Looking at Scotland, Mr Drury said that England could benefit from copying its northern neighbours plans to install outright landfill bans on specific materials, introduce separate food waste collections by 2013 and restrict energy-from-waste incineration.
His comments were echoed by Ian Goodfellow, managing director of Shanks and chairman of the Environmental Services Association, who said that the Waste Review really falls short in offering clarity on how recycling could be increased in England.
I think it is likely to require a revisit in the next few years to reinvigorate the environmental outcome as this is about wanting people to do things for the right reason, which is not a bad thing, but we know industry, local authorities and individuals will respond to things like the Landfill Tax and, sadly, that is not there [in the Review], he said.
Commercial
An element of the Waste Review that has received support from the waste sector is the increased focus on commercial and business waste streams with the policy document outlining a willingness to work more closely with the business sector and also lessen regulation.
Welcoming the proposal, Colin Drummond, chief executive of Viridor, said: Viridor is pleased that the Waste Review indicates a clear and consistent, yet light touch, approach, acknowledging that the current main drivers are proving effective.
We welcome the renewed focus on recycling and recovery of commercial wastes. The UK has made good progress towards higher levels of recycling, recovery and resource efficiency over the last decade, and we need to keep this momentum going.
Meanwhile, Veolia Environmental Services also welcomed the Waste Review and its inclusion of business waste as a key area.
Robert Hunt, executive director of Veolia, said: We support the link to the business environment and have long championed the need for proper recycling and recovery for our commercial and industrial clients the emphasis on voluntary codes will doubtless help in this regard.
In the current economic climate it is difficult to transform waste management, but we recommend that the government enable waste management providers to deliver a holistic solution to their customers.
Collections
On weekly waste collections, waste management and recycling companies praised the government for dropping an anticipated call for councils to ditch alternate weekly waste collections in the Review.
Pete Dickson, development director at collections specialist Biffa Municipal, said: Were delighted that the rumours of government enforcing a return to weekly waste collections are just that rumours.
But, with Communities Secretary Eric Pickles saying both Whitehall and town hall need to raise their game to deliver more frequent and better rubbish and recycling collections, we remain a little suspicious, hence our muted welcome.
We need to see the fine detail behind some of the Reviews initiatives before we can give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down.
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