London: A parliamentary committee has criticised the Government’s approach to direct charging for refuse collection in its latest report saying, “in the face of highly negative media coverage, (the Government has) mounted a wholehearted retreat from even the limited policy outlined last May”.
The earlier report issued in May 2007 by the House of Commons’ Local Government and Communities Committee, said that the Government was making a “half-hearted tilt in the direction of charging” householders directly for the collection of their rubbish.
The aim of direct charging – or providing incentives – is to push up the rates of recycling and, to an extent, waste minimization and re-use. This would help the Government achieve its commitment to reduce the quantities of biodegradable municipal waste being deposited in landfill, under the Landfill Directive.
European approach
In its report, the Committee summarises the situation in the other 14 older members of the European Union where direct charging for waste services is commonplace and where, in general, recycling and recovery rates are higher than in the UK.
Charging is compulsory in Ireland and due to become so in Italy. In Greece, Portugal, and Spain, local authorities have the power to charge but do not use it. Landfill volumes in these three countries, as in the UK, are at the bottom end of the league table, according to the Committee.
The Committee felt that, given the range of experience that already exists within EU neighbour states, it is questionable how much additional information can be gained by operating only five pilot schemes by 2012 in England.
Not convinced
The Committee said that it was not yet convinced that incentive, or charging, schemes, either as currently conceived or as outlined in the Waste Strategy, would work well in England. However it did agree with the Minister for Waste that “we should not be so afraid of being able to deliver a proper scheme”.
The timing of the five pilot schemes is also unfortunate, as the Committee considers that the results will not be at a stage that they can be usefully used to influence achievement of the Landfill Directive targets for 2010 and 2013.
A “comprehensive retreat”
The Government appears to lack the courage of its previous convictions that local authorities are best placed to decide what will work in their own areas and that recycling incentive schemes can contribute towards a genuine, measurable reduction in the volume of waste being sent to landfill, according to the Committee. This has resulted in a messy compromise that is likely to lead to hostile media coverage on the five pilot schemes, which themselves can have little effect on 2010 and 2013 Landfill Directive targets.