Government slammed over “inappropriate” new household recycling fund
Waste & recycling news – by Thomas McMullan
2nd September 2014
A new multi-million Government fund aimed at incentivising households to recycle more has been criticised by the waste management sector, which has called it “inappropriate” and spoken of its “growing concern” that the UK is set to miss its EU targets on recycling.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) announced last week it was going to help councils in England improve household recycling rates with a new £5 million pot of cash – but it will only be open to those local authorities that operate weekly recycling collections.
“Inappropriate”
“Lack of leadership”
Incentives: questionable impact
The Chartered Institution of Waste Management (CIWM) today attacked the new policy for “publicly vilifying” some councils and questioned the effectiveness of the fund in getting households to recycle more. The £5 million pot of money will not be open to councils that operate fortnightly collections.
The controversial move follows mounting evidence the UK could miss its 2020 EU targets to recycle 50 per cent of its household waste. UK recycling rates have stagnated in recent years in the UK. According to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the recycling rate for 2012-13 for England stood at 43.2 per cent.
The controversial move follows mounting evidence the UK could miss its 2020 EU targets to recycle 50 per cent of its household waste. UK recycling rates have stagnated in recent years in the UK. According to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the recycling rate for 2012-13 for England stood at 43.2 per cent.
“Government money should not be used to force councils into changing the frequency of their residual waste collection services,” Steve Lee, chief executive of CIWM, said. “Those that need to operate weekly residual collections to meet particular local circumstances, for example high density urban areas, do so and they will rightly welcome additional support to incentivise recycling.”
Most of England’s top performing councils now run alternate week collections “with good resident satisfaction ratings and significant improvements in recycling and landfill diversion”, Lee said.
Most of England’s top performing councils now run alternate week collections “with good resident satisfaction ratings and significant improvements in recycling and landfill diversion”, Lee said.
“Publicly vilifying these councils and jeopardising the householder participation and recycling rates they have achieved is inappropriate, especially when viewed against the backdrop of ongoing local government budget cuts and growing concern that the UK may fail to meet the EU 50 per cent recycling target in 2020.”
“Lack of leadership”
In July, the Environmental Audit Committee criticised the Government for not doing enough to support the European Commission’s proposals for recycling and said that it’s approach “lacks leadership”.
In the same month, British waste management company, Business Waste, published a poll that revealed 32 per cent of householders don’t believe recycling is helpful to the environment, while 29 per cent of company directors don’t see recycling as economically viable.
The chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), John Allan, blamed a lack of common recycling sites for businesses for the frustration evidenced by small business owners towards recycling.
“For some FSB members one issue is not being able to take their waste and recycling to municipal sites as domestic households are able to,” he told GreenWise. “If this changed it would make it much easier for businesses to play their part.”
In the same month, British waste management company, Business Waste, published a poll that revealed 32 per cent of householders don’t believe recycling is helpful to the environment, while 29 per cent of company directors don’t see recycling as economically viable.
The chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), John Allan, blamed a lack of common recycling sites for businesses for the frustration evidenced by small business owners towards recycling.
“For some FSB members one issue is not being able to take their waste and recycling to municipal sites as domestic households are able to,” he told GreenWise. “If this changed it would make it much easier for businesses to play their part.”
Incentives: questionable impact
Lee said a more in-depth understanding of attitudes to recycling at local level was needed before spending more public funds on the problem.
“We do need to explore the best ways to reinforce people’s enthusiasm for recycling and incentive schemes clearly have a role to play,” said Lee. “However, recent research suggests that the impact can be difficult to measure […] councils have to consider the year-on-year operational costs of incentive schemes and decide if this is the right move for their local circumstances.”
“We do need to explore the best ways to reinforce people’s enthusiasm for recycling and incentive schemes clearly have a role to play,” said Lee. “However, recent research suggests that the impact can be difficult to measure […] councils have to consider the year-on-year operational costs of incentive schemes and decide if this is the right move for their local circumstances.”
Pickles: fortnightly service “inferior”
But Local Government and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles defended the Government’s new policy: “This Government is protecting the local environment by supporting recycling, as well as championing weekly collections which protect local amenity and public health. Councils with fortnightly collections will not receive Government funding and are short-changing their residents with an inferior service.”
Reward companies for re-use
In its third report on resource efficiency, the Environmental Audit Committee, said the Government was “cutting back” rather than “scaling up” for a circular economy, saying re-using resources “makes environmental and economic sense”.
“We recommend that the Government reforms taxation and producer responsibility regulations to reward companies that design products with lower environmental impacts and ensures that resources are re-used,” the report said.
“We recommend that the Government reforms taxation and producer responsibility regulations to reward companies that design products with lower environmental impacts and ensures that resources are re-used,” the report said.
In July, the European Commission unveiled plans that could see household recycling targets increase to 70 per cent by the end of the next decade.
Bids for the Government’s new household recycling fund close on November 7 2014. Successful bids will be announced in January 2015 and the money will be paid from April 2015.
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