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Questions and Answers

Government influence

 
  1. Could funding of recycling be carried out by the government as opposed to central taxation?

The general principle in relation to environmental issues is that the ‘polluter pays’. This applies to commercial and industrial waste management and recycling where businesses have to meet the direct costs involved in dealing with their waste. Generally market forces apply and firms choose whichever is the cheapest option that meets legal requirements.

Household waste management and recycling is different in that there is no direct link between the amount of waste produced by individual householders and the amount that they pay. The cost is met by local authorities out of general local government expenditure. About a third of this funding is raised locally through the Council Tax, the rest coming from central taxation via Government grant. Thus spending on waste management and recycling has to be balanced against the needs of other local services such as education, social services, environmental health, etc. The cost of refuse recycling and disposal is currently about £1.21 per household per week in Hampshire.

The Government has made some additional funding available to support household waste recycling but this is done on a bidding basis. On the last bidding round in 2002, the Project Integra partners secured a total of £5 million towards the capital cost of recycling and composting projects.

  1. Who is the central minister responsible for waste?

Minerals and waste land use planning falls under the umbrella of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). The overall minister responsible is John Prescott.

All other waste management matters fall under the control of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The responsible minister in this case is Elliot Morley, who is the Minister for the Environment.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have an interest in waste management issues that impact on commerce and industry. This includes producer responsibility, where manufacturers and retailers have responsibilities for recycling and recovering their products at the end of their lives. Both DEFRA and the DTI are involved with sustainable consumption and production. Lord Whitty (DEFRA) and Stephen Timms (DTI) are the responsible ministers.

Further information can be found on: www.odpm.gov.uk, www.defra.gov.uk and

www.dti.gov.uk

  1. Is the Government providing leadership on waste and recycling issues?

The need for the UK to comply with existing and impending EC regulations, with potential financial penalties for non-compliance, has raised the profile of waste management on the Government agenda.

The Government’s overall policy on the future of waste management in England is contained in the key strategy document Waste Strategy 2000 - the National Waste Strategy (www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/cm4693/index.htm) This document sets out policy on waste minimisation, recycling, recovery of value from waste and final disposal.

As a means of implementing policy set out in Waste 2000, the Government introduced a range of complimentary measures/initiatives. These included statutory performance targets for recycling in each Local Authority in England and modest funding initiatives intended to be used to promote recycling/waste minimisation at the local level. The Government also established in 2001 the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) with an initial budget of £40 million of public money over three years to support new markets to enable the expansion of recycling (see www.wrap.org.uk).

However, concern about the rate of progress in implementing Waste Strategy 2000 led in 2001 to the Government to ask the Strategy Unit in the Cabinet Office to identify actions needed to achieve the Strategy’s aims. The Strategy Unit reported in November 2002 and stressed the recurring themes of ‘decoupling waste growth from economic growth and increasing the level of recycling’. A series of recommendations were made for change at Government policy level. The Government subsequently accepted the majority of these including:

  • Increasing the Landfill Tax by £3 per tonne in 2005/06 and by at least £3 per tonne thereafter, on the way to a medium to long term rate of £35 per tonne.
  • Utilising some of the proceeds from Landfill Tax to fund improved household waste minimisation, recycling, composting and research other new technologies. This was done by reformation of what was the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme to redirect funding in a more strategic and coordinated way.

Despite the above measures, some observers, including House of Commons Environment Select Committee, have argued that the UK still faces a major challenge in dealing with waste in a sustainable way and more needs to be done at a national policy level to bring this about.

  1. What are the recycling incentives currently available? - Is use of landfill tax revenue to be fed back into waste disposal/recycling processes?

Central government has introduced some limited funding initiatives to local authorities to assist in efforts to increase recycling. Local authorities have to submit bids for this funding, the bids being assessed and awards made accordingly to enable the implementation of a range of local schemes. Project Integra was successful in securing a total of £5 million in the 2002 biding round

As a result of changes to the use of Landfill Tax funds referred to under Question 3 above, the extent of the available financial support to waste awareness, waste minimisation and recycling has been increased. The remit of WRAP has been widened to include waste awareness and waste minimisation and they are establishing priorities, with a view to implementation by the public or private sectors being undertaken via a bidding process.

In addition to the financial incentives designed to promote recycling, there is also financial disincentive to not recycling. The landfill tax, which presently stands at £14 per tonne for non-inert waste, was introduced as a means to encourage the diversion of waste from landfill towards other methods of management including recycling and recovery.

  1. Can we influence government to create further incentives?

Yes, we can try to do this. There is evidence that the Government is interested in innovative solutions and that it regards Hampshire as a leader in waste management. It has promoted Hampshire’s Project Integra nationally as an example of best practice in dealing with household waste.

  1. An outcome of this strategy may be that the regulations need to be reviewed and HCC need to lobby government to change the regulations.

One of the aims of the MRS is to identify any broad policy changes that are needed nationally and then try to persuade Government to implement them.

  1. Where have the Green Parties policies gone?

The Green Party are still active in the UK although they have had less electoral success here than in some other European countries. They currently have 2 MEPs and a number of local councillors across the country.

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