DEPARTMENT FOR
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (421/07) issued by
The Government News Network on 15 November 2007
The framework that
will allow a small number of local authorities in England to pilot
incentives for people to reduce, reuse and recycle waste has today
been set out by Waste and Recycling Minister Joan Ruddock.
Under the powers, included in the Climate Change Bill, a maximum
of five local authorities will be granted permission to pilot the schemes.
The councils will be able to come forward with schemes to fit
local circumstances but they must be approved by the Environment
Secretary and follow clear guidelines set out in legislation -
including having checks and balances in place for residents. Local
authorities will have to pay back to residents overall any money
they collect from them as part of the pilots. Those throwing away
the least would receive a rebate and those throwing away the most
could pay more.
The schemes will then be reviewed to ascertain their success
before a decision is made on whether they can be introduced more widely.
Details of the pilots were set out by Ms Ruddock in a written
Parliamentary statement made today. The relevant clauses are
included in the Climate Change Bill, also published today.
Ms Ruddock said:
"The case for reducing the amount of waste we all produce is
clear - it is damaging the environment and contributing to climate
change. Furthermore it makes no financial sense to keep dumping it
into holes in the ground.
"We need to work out the best way to achieve this. Local
authorities have asked for incentive schemes as one of their
options. Indeed, responses to the Government's consultation
showed strong support for these powers from within a wide range of
local authorities across the whole political spectrum.
"But we realise that, while such schemes are common
overseas, this is new ground for this country and that is why we
want to pilot them first - to ensure the right checks and balances
are in place for residents who participate.
"This is a new power for England. We therefore want to give
a number of councils the chance to pilot incentive schemes to help
monitor impacts and learn valuable lessons."
The announcement follows a 12 week consultation on the incentive
schemes and confirmation in the recent Climate Change Bill Command
Paper that the Government proposes to pilot the schemes.
Defra has committed up to £1.5 million per year over three years
to help support the pilots.
Ms Ruddock confirmed that under the pilots rebates could be
deducted from council tax payments.
The checks and balances that will back up the schemes include:
* A requirement that local authorities provide good kerbside
recycling services so that residents have ample opportunity to
recycle.
* A requirement that local authorities take account
of the needs of any potentially disadvantaged groups when piloting
the schemes.
* A requirement to have a fly-tipping prevention
strategy in place. While evidence from overseas does not point to
an automatic increase in fly-tipping, prevention strategies are a
sensible precaution.
Experience from other countries does show that similar
incentivising schemes boost recycling and reduce waste overall -
cutting the cost of waste disposal to householders and councils.
The UK is currently the only member of the EU15 to have a ban on
schemes which give households financial incentives to reduce and
recycle their waste.
Notes to editors
1. Joan Ruddock's statement to Parliament, a factsheet, the
impact assessment and summary of consultation responses are
available at
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/incentives/index.htm
The Climate Change Bill will be available at : http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/legislation/index.htm
2. Emissions from methane in landfill account for about three per
cent of UK greenhouse gas emissions.
3. Under section 45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990,
local authorities have a statutory duty to collect household waste
free of charge (except in certain specific cases set out in
Schedule 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992).
Government's proposals announced today will lift this
restriction on the pilot local authorities, allowing them to
introduce non-revenue raising incentive schemes.
4. In many countries (11 of the EU 15) householders pay according
to how much waste they throw away and the evidence shows that this
has led to higher levels of recycling and less waste being
generated in the first place.
For example:
* In
Maastricht, Netherlands, householders buy special sacks to dispose
of their waste. Recycling has risen by 15 percentage points and
the municipality's overall waste bill fell by 20%.
* In
Treviso, Italy, householders pay according to how often their
non-recycled waste is collected. The scheme has helped achieve a
12% reduction in waste levels.
* In Bjuv, Sweden, householders
are billed according to the weight of their non-recycled waste.
Waste levels fell by 19% and recycling rose by 49% in the first
year of the scheme.
5. The Local Government Association and some local authorities
have called for a power for local authorities to introduce
"save as you throw" schemes. Under these schemes,
residents who took steps to minimise, reuse, home compost and
recycle would receive a council tax rebate.
6. The Government published its Waste Strategy 2007 in May. Key
points of the strategy include:
* More effective incentives for individuals and businesses to
recycle waste, leading to at least 40 per cent of household waste
recycled or composted by 2010, rising to 50 per cent by 2020. This
is a significant increase on the targets in the previous waste
strategy, published in 2000.
* A greater responsibility on businesses for the environmental
impact of their products and operations through, for example, a
drive to minimise packaging and higher targets for recycling packaging.
* A strong emphasis on waste prevention with householders
reducing their waste (for example, through home composting and
reducing food waste) and business helping consumers, for example,
with less packaging. There will also be a new national target to
help measure this - to reduce the amount of household waste not
re-used, recycled or composted from 22.2 million tonnes in 2000 to
12.2 million tonnes by 2020 - a reduction of 45 per cent.
* A challenge to see recycling extended from the home and office
and taken into public areas like shopping malls, train stations
and cinema multiplexes, so that it becomes a natural part of
everyday life.
* An increase in the landfill tax escalator by £8 per year from
2008 until at least 2010/11 - announced by the then-Chancellor
Gordon Brown in March 2007. Partly as a result of this, business
waste landfilled is expected to fall by 20 per cent by 2010
compared with 2004.
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