London Mayor candidates debate waste issues

ESA attended the Green Alliance London mayoral hustings on the environment, entitled “How green is London’s future?” which took place at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) buildings in Whitehall on 14 February. The event, chaired by Channel 4 news presenter Jon Snow, was attended by the four main candidates for the position of Mayor of London. The London Mayoral and Assembly elections are due to take place on 1 May 2008.

The event began with each candidate giving a five minute presentation on their own environmental priorities for London. This was then followed by a broader question and answer session. Climate change issues, particularly in relation to airport expansion and congestion charging, dominated, but there was some discussion of waste issues.

Boris Johnson (Conservative) highlighted the need for action against fly-tipping and to share best practice on recycling. Brian Paddock (Lib Dem) criticised the incumbent mayor Ken Livingstone's decision not to personally chair London’s Waste and Recycling board.

Neither Sian Berry (Green) nor Ken Livingstone (Labour) referred to waste issues in their introductory speeches. In response to a question on how landfill targets can be met, all four candidates acknowledged the need to increase recycling and reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill sites. Ken Livingstone highlighted a preference for new anaerobic digester plants, emphasising his previous opposition to the energy from waste plant at Belvedere and current opposition to replacing the plant at Edmonton at the end of its working life.

Boris Johnson said that he thought waste should be used in a new generation of combined heat and power plants, and Sian Berry argued the case for a single waste authority for London under the control of the mayor, together with a need to increase food waste collections for energy generation.