UK spending to protect the environment quadruples to £13 billion

The newly published set of accounts shows public spending has increased fourfold in the 13 years between 1996 and 2009, although most of the cash is spent on waste management, which now accounts for 77 per cent of the total expenditure.

According to the ONS report, the huge spending on waste management is to be expected as the budget covers all collection, treatment and disposal of waste managed by local authorities.

However, it adds that the proportion of cash spent on tackling rubbish is actually down from 95 per cent in 1996, indicating that expenditure in other areas of environmental protection, as a whole, has grown at a faster rate.

The breakdown of public sector environmental protection expenditure in 2009 shows that the remaining 23 per cent was spent on protection of biodiversity and landscape (3.5 per cent), research and development (2.4 per cent), pollution abatement (2 per cent), waste water management (0.2 per cent) and other abatement activities (14.9 per cent).

Today's report also reveals a growing gulf between public spending on the environment and industry spending.

While the Government's spend increased to £13.2 billion in 2009, the report shows industry's investment actually decreased to just £4 billion.

The report also pointed out that environmental protection activities do not include activities aimed primarily at reducing the depletion of natural resources such as oil and gas reserves or the restoration of the stocks of resources such as forests or fish stocks.

It added: "Initial results indicate that expenditure on environmental protection by the public sector, with the exception of 2005 and a small fall in 2008 has been growing fairly steadily, increasing almost fourfold in the 13 years between 1996 and 2009.

"Expenditure on environmental protection activities increased by £1.5 billion (13 per cent) to £13.2 billion between 2008 and 2009 with the largest increase in waste management (£0.9 billion).

"Our best information based on published sources is that the sharp increase in 2005 can most likely be accredited to the decommissioning of British Nuclear Fuels that year.

"The domain classed as 'Other abatement activities’ grew quickly between 1998 and 2002 and has remained at a fairly constant level since that time. It is likely that this represents the changes brought in by the new government elected in 1997 as the domain is focused around administrative and legislative expenditure."