Councils free to launch ‘pay-as-you-throw’ options to drive recycling

30 May 2007

Local authorities will be able to introduce ‘pay-as-you-throw’ household incentives to encourage recycling, the Government announced last week.
Under the Waste Strategy for England 2007, local authorities would be free to introduce schemes which rewarded, financially, those householders who recycle, funded by those who do not.
Presenting the strategy to the Commons, environment secretary, David Miliband, launched a parallel public consultation on removing the ban on councils introducing such measures. Any such schemes would have to be revenue-neutral, but councils would be free to design their own schemes, ‘provided they meet government requirements set out in legislation, including the need to provide kerbside-recycling facilities for at least five waste streams’.
The plan is based on evidence from overseas which suggests that incentives can be a powerful tool in reducing overall waste quantities, boosting recycling and cutting costs. The strategy also features a number of targets, not least the increase in the recycling target, with at least 40% of household waste recycled by 2010, rising to 50% by 2020. A national target would also apply to household waste not re-used, recycled or composted from 22.2M tonnes in 2000 – when the last waste strategy was published – to 12.2M tonnes by 2020.
Additional measures include an agreement with the Direct Marketing Association to develop a service so people can opt out of receiving direct mail. Subject to further consultation, the Government is also considering banning biodegradable and recyclable waste from landfill sites and increasing the amount of energy-from-waste schemes for waste that cannot be reused or recycled.
However, the CSS said progress would only be made if the Government ‘makes good the serious current shortfall in capital and revenue investment’. Elsewhere, the Association for Public Service Excellence chief executive, Paul O’Brien, said: ‘We must have mechanisms in place to ensure that larger households are not penalised and we need to also ensure help is at hand for elderly residents who may struggle with multiple collections.’

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Councils free to launch ‘pay-as-you-throw’ options to drive recycling

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