MoreThanWaste.com - England easily achieves 2005/06 LATS allowance (20/11/2006)

According to an Environment Agency report, England has made a good start towards meeting its first tough EU targets of sending less biodegradable waste (cardboard, garden and food waste) to landfill. The report is on the first year of the Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme (LATS).

Under the LATS scheme, each local authority has set limits on the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) they can dispose of in landfill sites.

This is achieved by allocating each local authority an annual landfill allowance based on the amount of waste it handled in 2001/02. Each allowance represents one tonne of waste that is allowed to be sent to landfill.

Local authority approaches

A local authority has the choice of meeting its LATS commitment by:

diverting waste from landfill
"Thanks to local authorities' efforts, England has made a great start to meeting the first landfill directive target in 2010."
Tricia Henton, Director of Environment Protection at the Environment Agency
using its allowances
borrowing from its future allocations
buying allowances from other authorities
or any combination of these.

LATS was set up to ensure that England meets its share of the UK Landfill Directive targets.

Tricia Henton, Director of Environment Protection at the Environment Agency, said:

"Today’s report shows that all the 121 local authorities in England landfilled within limits. In fact, England beat its national allowance allocation for 2005/6 by 18%. We are delighted with this outcome which has only been possible through a lot of hard work by Local Authority staff."

The Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme was introduced last year to encourage local authorities to recycle, recover, re-use or compost biodegradable waste instead of landfilling it, to help the UK meet tough EU targets.

Under the EU Landfill Directive, the UK must reduce the amount of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) going to landfill to 75% of that produced in 1995 by 2010, then to 50% by 2013 and finally 35% by 2020.

Ms Henton continued,

"The fact that one local authority may have more allowances to spare than others doesn’t necessarily mean they are doing a better job in managing their waste. What it does mean is those authorities with less surplus allowances will need to divert more in the coming years as targets get tighter and allowances get smaller."

Findings from the LATS report

The LATS report compiles data submitted by local authorities in England to the Environment Agency. Findings from the report include:

England’s total allowance allocation for 2005/6 was set at 15.2 million tonnes. The
"Councils are on the front line in the fight to save the environment and are now campaigning to cut unnecessary packaging and reduce the amount of waste that cannot be recycled."
Councillor Paul Bettison, Chairman of the Environment Board, LGA
actual Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) sent to landfill in 2005/6 was 12.4 million tonnes.

All 121 authorities in England were within limits with 10 authorities using the flexibility of trading or borrowing allowances.

9 out of 81 Unitary Authorities had to buy or borrow additional allowances to ensure they were within limits. Only 1 out of 40 Waste Disposal Authorities needed to buy additional allowances.

In 2009/10 the amount of BMW that can be sent to landfill will only be 11,200,000 tonnes. Even if there was no growth in the amount of BMW we produce we would have to reduce the amount going to landfill by around 1 million tonnes to achieve the first EU Landfill Directive target.

According to the Agency, if the current trends continue, England will be well on track to meet the 2009/10 target.

Tricia Henton continued:

"Thanks to local authorities' efforts, England has made a great start to meeting the first landfill directive target in 2010. But the UK targets remain challenging and local authorities must continue the good work, and in particular must plan now to ensure the UK meets the particularly tough national targets in 2013 and 2020."

Councillor Paul Bettison, Chairman of the Environment Board at the Local Government Association said:

"By working with local people, councils have been able to successfully reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. However, there is still a lot of hard work to be done to reduce, by over a million tonnes, the level of waste sent to landfill by 2010. The amount of waste being produced will cost more than £2.5 billion to collect and dispose of this year alone.

"Councils are on the front line in the fight to save the environment and are now campaigning to cut unnecessary packaging and reduce the amount of waste that cannot be recycled. Ultimately we must make sure less waste is produced in the first place."

The report is on the first year of the Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme (LATS) and is published by the Environment Agency.


	England easily achieves 2005/06 LATS allowance (20/11/2006) According to an Environment Agency report, England has made a good start towards meeting its first tough EU targets of sending less biodegradable waste (cardboard, garden and food waste) to landfill. The report is on the first year of the Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme (LATS). Under the LATS scheme, each local authority has set limits on the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) they can dispose of in landfill sites. This is achieved by allocating each local authority an annual landfill allowance based on the amount of waste it handled in 2001/02. Each allowance represents one tonne of waste that is allowed to be sent to landfill. Local authority approaches A local authority has the choice of meeting its LATS commitment by: diverting waste from landfill "Thanks to local authorities' efforts, England has made a great start to meeting the first landfill directive target in 2010." Tricia Henton, Director of Environment Protection at the Environment Agency using its allowances borrowing from its future allocations buying allowances from other authorities or any combination of these. LATS was set up to ensure that England meets its share of the UK Landfill Directive targets. Tricia Henton, Director of Environment Protection at the Environment Agency, said: "Today’s report shows that all the 121 local authorities in England landfilled within limits. In fact, England beat its national allowance allocation for 2005/6 by 18%. We are delighted with this outcome which has only been possible through a lot of hard work by Local Authority staff." The Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme was introduced last year to encourage local authorities to recycle, recover, re-use or compost biodegradable waste instead of landfilling it, to help the UK meet tough EU targets. Under the EU Landfill Directive, the UK must reduce the amount of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) going to landfill to 75% of that produced in 1995 by 2010, then to 50% by 2013 and finally 35% by 2020. Ms Henton continued, "The fact that one local authority may have more allowances to spare than others doesn’t necessarily mean they are doing a better job in managing their waste. What it does mean is those authorities with less surplus allowances will need to divert more in the coming years as targets get tighter and allowances get smaller." Findings from the LATS report The LATS report compiles data submitted by local authorities in England to the Environment Agency. Findings from the report include: England’s total allowance allocation for 2005/6 was set at 15.2 million tonnes. The "Councils are on the front line in the fight to save the environment and are now campaigning to cut unnecessary packaging and reduce the amount of waste that cannot be recycled." Councillor Paul Bettison, Chairman of the Environment Board, LGA actual Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) sent to landfill in 2005/6 was 12.4 million tonnes. All 121 authorities in England were within limits with 10 authorities using the flexibility of trading or borrowing allowances. 9 out of 81 Unitary Authorities had to buy or borrow additional allowances to ensure they were within limits. Only 1 out of 40 Waste Disposal Authorities needed to buy additional allowances. In 2009/10 the amount of BMW that can be sent to landfill will only be 11,200,000 tonnes. Even if there was no growth in the amount of BMW we produce we would have to reduce the amount going to landfill by around 1 million tonnes to achieve the first EU Landfill Directive target. According to the Agency, if the current trends continue, England will be well on track to meet the 2009/10 target. Tricia Henton continued: "Thanks to local authorities' efforts, England has made a great start to meeting the first landfill directive target in 2010. But the UK targets remain challenging and local authorities must continue the good work, and in particular must plan now to ensure the UK meets the particularly tough national targets in 2013 and 2020." Councillor Paul Bettison, Chairman of the Environment Board at the Local Government Association said: "By working with local people, councils have been able to successfully reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. However, there is still a lot of hard work to be done to reduce, by over a million tonnes, the level of waste sent to landfill by 2010. The amount of waste being produced will cost more than £2.5 billion to collect and dispose of this year alone. "Councils are on the front line in the fight to save the environment and are now campaigning to cut unnecessary packaging and reduce the amount of waste that cannot be recycled. Ultimately we must make sure less waste is produced in the first place." The report is on the first year of the Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme (LATS) and is published by the Environment Agency.