Local authorities continuing to win the war on waste

EVERY council in Wales has met its 2008-2009 waste target for for the amount of biodegradable waste it sends to landfill.

Figures published today by the Landfill Allowances Scheme (LAS) show local that Welsh authorities are continuing to reduce the amount of waste they sent to landfill and are one year ahead of plan in terms of meeting next year’s first EU Landfill Directive Target.

Councillor Aled Roberts from Wrexham, WLGA Environment Spokesperson said: “This is an excellent achievement and reflects the hard work and commitment that Welsh councils have invested in tackling one of Wales’ biggest and most difficult challenges - waste. Welsh councils have consistently reduced the amount of waste they send to landfill over the last few years and have achieved this by joining forces to tackle significant waste pressures, for example looking at waste reduction, recycling collections and introducing food treatment and food waste collection services. Today’s figures show that our waste management strategies are working and we are seeing a cultural shift in consumer behaviour with the public clearly making increasing use of the services available to them and sending less to landfill.”

“Today’s figures reveal that Wales is already one year ahead of target for exceeding the first EU target in 2010. This is great progress and has only been possible through the efforts of the Welsh public by taking part in the collection schemes offered by local authorities. However, that to achieve this has taken considerable effort and expenditure on behalf of local authorities. We must remember that the landfill allowance targets increase significantly between now and March 2013; this means there needs to be a further, commensurate increase in the amount of materials diverted through recycling. Any council which fails to meet its landfill targets could incur fines of £200 per tonne for material landfilled over and above these set allowances. In the current economic climate local authorities simply do not have contingency funds to cover this extra expenditure. This presents a serious risk as the money will have to found from somewhere – most likely either from increased council tax or a reduction in other local authority services. At a time when local authority budgets are already restricting, this additional cost burden is unthinkable.

"To maintain the success in achieving increasingly challenging targets, the WLGA urges the Assembly Government to guarantee the indicative increases in budgets for recycling activities so that local authorities can continue to expand on services and make recycling as easy as possible for the people of Wales. Similarly, we need to further encourage a change in the behaviour of householders, who must take responsibility for the waste which they themselves produce. Currently approximately half of Welsh residents actively participate in recycling collections; without increased action on behalf of the public it will not be possible to divert enough recyclable material from landfill and fines will be incurred. In essence, the message to the public is simple: a big thank you to those who are already involved, but those that are not, inactivity will soon incur a cost to us all.”

Environment Agency Wales has produced the report in its role as monitoring authority for the Landfill Allowances Scheme. A full copy of the report is available at: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/waste/110703.aspx