The Future of Waste Management
The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee has published its report entitled "The Future of Waste Management"
1. Institutions
The Committee comments that delivering higher levels of recovery/recycling has not been hindered by a lack of technology or knowledge but by a lack of capacity in the key institutions responsible for delivering it.
DEFRA
The report accepts that it is too early to judge the impact of the Strategy Unit's Report. However, it concludes that the Government's performance on waste has been too timid and that despite previous Select Committee reports that have been critical of the Government's performance on waste, concerns remained at the apparent lack of capacity, vision, sense of urgency and political will in DEFRA to bring about truly sustainable waste management in the UK.
The Committee's main concerns are:
failure to engage effectively and have a strategic relationship with the waste management industry and other partners. The Committee does not formally recommend that waste should be concentrated in one Department. However, it comments that whatever structure is in place, DEFRA must engage partners effectively and ensure that there is a strong political will to deliver;
Defra's approach to negotiating and implementing EU environmental directives. The Committee comments: "we are left with the impression that DEFRA views the negotiation and implementation of environmental Directives as a painful chore rather than a positive opportunity for change". The Committee comments further that DEFRA must consult its partners earlier and adopt a maximum benefit approach rather than the least short term cost it appears to have now. The Committee suggests that DEFRA's problems to deliver result from a lack of capacity to deliver.
Environment Agency
The report states " in our view, regulation of waste facilities and prevention and prosecution of environmental crimes are the Environment Agency's most important roles in waste management". The Report adds that the Agency must ensure that its regulatory obligations are met first before becoming involved in other activities. The Committee recommends that the proceeds of fines impose for serious environmental crimes should be returned to the Environment Agency to support its work, and that the Agency speeds up its licensing procedures.
Local Authorities
The report does not support the abolition of the two tier system preferring local authorities, where possible, to produce joint waste strategies. The Committee recommends that the Government should consider what incentives it could introduce for waste disposal authorities to encourage recycling and composting.
2. Incentives for Waste Producers
The committee expresses support for a system where the relative net costs of waste management options reflect their position in the waste hierarchy and suggests that economic instruments - tax and subsidies - should be used so that the waste hierarchy reflects the price hierarchy.
The Committee concludes that the Landfill Tax will serve only as a driver when it reaches £35 per tonne and urges the Government to raise it more rapidly than the minimum £3 per year outlined in the Pre Budget Report.
The Select Committee comments that the Government must clearly set out its position on incineration addressing particularly health and environmental issues. The Committee expresses its concern that the review of the health effects of all waste management options is simply a review of material already published and recommends that where there is still significant scientific doubt about the impacts of different methods of waste management, the Government should commission new research into those impacts.
The Report concludes that variable charging for household waste collection should not be regarded as an additional source of revenue for local authorities but as a means of changing householders' behaviour. The Committee outlines its supports for local authorities to be able to introduce incentive schemes and recommends that the Government must conclude its deliberations on charging/incentive schemes before the Pre-Budget Report 2003.
3. Local Authorities
The report does not state whether the Government has made available sufficient funding for local authorities regarding waste. However, the Committee does implicitly recommend a Waste SSA, outlining its dissatisfaction that funding for waste competes with other services in the EPCS Budget. The Committee recommends that the Government must fully support school waste minimisation and recycling schemes which involve pupils and should also remove the barriers to the inclusion of schools in local authority recycling schemes.
4. Markets for Recyclates
The Committee is very supportive of WRAP. The Committee recommends that public bodies should adopt green procurement strategies wherever it is economically feasible to do so and that central and local Government should take the lead.
5. Community Sector
The Committee praises the contribution of the community sector and suggests that community not-for-profit projects face financial barriers to their work. The Committee recommends that the Government should consider making the payment of recycling credits to community waste projects mandatory or seek other ways in which such projects can minimise their costs.
6. Priority Waste Streams
The Committee recommends that the Government should move away from targets based purely on weight and instead prioritise those waste streams which present the greatest threat to the environment.
Biodegradable Waste
The Committee recommends that DEFRA must ensure that regulations and guidance on the treatment of biodegradable waste are made available as soon as possible and make every effort to minimise the negative impact of such regulations on the composting industry. The Committee comments also that the choice between home and central composting depends on local circumstances but that the Government must look again at ways of incorporating home composting in the waste performance figures of local authorities.
Hazardous Waste
In its response to the report DEFRA is urged by the Committee to set out what progress it has made in preparing for the reduction of hazardous landfill capacity from July 2004 and the activities of the hazardous waste forum.
