Home > Press releases > 2000
10 Apr 2000
Government Plans Incinerator Avalanche
The Government's new waste strategy, expected shortly, will threaten
to cover Britain in scores of new incinerators, Friends of the Earth warned
today. (A full list of likely sites is available from FOE).
But the publication of the strategy the Department of Environment, Transport
and the Regions has been delayed because of worries about a tidal wave
of complaints from local communities threatened with new incinerators.
Friends of the Earth has told the Government that all this trouble could
be avoided if targets were set for recycling,comparable to best practice
in the rest of Europe, and fund was provided for decent recycling services
through money raised by the landfill tax.
Britain has one of the worst recycling records in Europe. Most local
councils have failed hopelessly to meet the target, set more than ten
years ago, of recycling a quarter of their rubbish by the year 2000. Local
authorities in the constituencies of Messrs Blair, Brown,Prescott and
Meacher are among the worst (attached, together with a recycling league
table for Councils.).
As it stands at present, the new strategy will fail:
Friends of the Earth's predictions for the waste strategy - based on detailed discussions with Ministers and Civil Servants - are as follows:
Mike Childs, Senior Waste Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:
“If Tony Blair and Gordon Brown don't intervene the Government's
new waste strategy will be rubbish. The Government could prove its green
credentials by ensuring that everyone has decent and convenient recycling
services and the UK is amongst the best in Europe, not the worst. Britain
has to stop chucking rubbish into landfill sites but plotting to cover
Britain in new incinerators is no solution. It will do considerable political
damage as communities protest at the prospect of living next to burning
rubbish. It will also leave Britain languishing at the bottom of Europe's
recycling league. Instead we need clear, statutory targets for recycling.And
we need money to make these targets a reality. That is the only green
solution to Britain's rubbish crisis.”
NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD WASTE RECYCLING RATES
|
NATION |
MSW RATE |
SOURCE |
|
SWITZERLAND |
52% |
Swiss Environment Agency |
|
NETHERLANDS |
45% |
Dutch Environment Ministry |
|
AUSTRIA |
45% in 1996 |
Austrian Federal Waste Management Plan 1998 |
|
NORWAY |
34% |
Statistics Norway |
|
SWEDEN |
33% in 1997 |
Swedish EPA |
|
USA |
31.5% |
Biocycle annual nationwide survey |
|
GERMANYSee footnote 11 |
30% in 1993 |
Environmental Data Germany 1998 |
|
FINLAND |
30% in 1997 |
ETSU for DTI |
|
CANADA |
29% in 1997 |
ETSU for DTI |
|
DENMARK |
28% |
Danish Environmental Protection Agency |
|
ENGLAND and WALES |
8% |
A Way with Waste - the Government Waste Strategy |
|
SCOTLAND |
5.7% |
Scottish Accounts Commission |
Recycling rates in Cabinet members constituencies
| Cabinet Minister | Constituency | Local Authority | Recycling rate |
| Claire Short | Ladywood | Birmingham | 13.8% |
| Margaret Beckett | Derby South | Derby | 13.2% |
| Ann Taylor | Dewsbury | Kirklees | 9.9% |
| Jack Straw | Blackburn | Blackburn with Darwen | 9.7% |
| John Prescott | Hull | Kingston Upon Hull | 7.4% |
| Alan Milburn | Darlington | Darlington | 6.3% |
| Peter Mandelson | Hartlepool | Hartlepool | 5.4% |
| Nick Brown | Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend | Newcaste upon Tyne | 5.2% |
| Paul Murphy | Torfaen | Torfaen | 5% |
| David Blunkett | Sheffield, Brightside | Sheffield | 4.6% |
| Alastair Darling | Edinburgh Central | Edinburgh City | 4.2% |
| Andrew Smith | East Oxford | Oxfordshire | 3.7% |
| Mo Mowlam | Redcar | Redcar and Cleveland | 3.7% |
| Chris Smith | Islington South and Finsbury | Islington | 3.6% |
| Robin Cook | Livingston | West Lothian | 3.3% |
| Stephen Byers | North Tyneside | North Tyneside | 3.3% |
| Michael Meacher | Oldham | Oldham West | 2.9% |
| John Reid | Hamilton North and Bellshill | North Lanarkshire | 2.2% |
| Gordon Brown | Dunfirmline East | Fife | 1.8% |
| Geoff Hoon | Ashfield | Ashfield | 1.5% |
| Tony Blair | Sedgefield | Sedgefield | 1.4% |
| National Average | 8.9% |
The Best and the Worst 25 Local Authorities Recyclers
| Worst Authorities | Rate | Best Authorities | Rate | |
| Wansbeck | 0.9% | Bournemouth | 37% | |
| Durham | 1.0% | Castle Morpeth | 36.6% | |
| Corby | 1.3% | Dorset | 32.7% | |
| Sedgefield | 1.4% | Poole | 27.6% | |
| Sunderland | 1.4% | Forest Heath | 25.2% | |
| Caradon | 1.4% | Chiltern | 24.4% | |
| Ashfield | 1.5% | Sutton | 24.1% | |
| Mansfield | 1.6% | Eastleigh | 24.1% | |
| Northumberland | 1.6% | Bexley | 24% | |
| Derbyshire | 1.6% | St Edmundsbury | 24% | |
| Shropshire | 1.7% | Hampshire | 22.8% | |
| Derwentside | 1.7% | Cheshire | 22.6% | |
| Chester-le-street | 1.8% | New Forest | 22% | |
| Wear Valley | 1.8% | Tandridge | 20.6% | |
| Blyth Valley | 1.9% | Devon | 20.2% | |
| Bolsover | 1.9% | Surrey Heath | 19.9% | |
| Boston | 2.1% | Mid Sussex | 19.9% | |
| Liverpool | 2.2% | South Bucks | 19.7% | |
| Wigan | 2.2% | East Dorset | 19.7% | |
| Cannock Chase | 2.4% | Essex | 19.1% | |
| North East Derbyshire | 2.4% | Reigate & Banstead | 19% | |
| North Yorkshire | 2.4% | Test Valley | 18.7% | |
| North Cornwall | 2.4% | Swindon | 18.2% | |
| Alnwick | 2.4% | Croydon | 18.1% | |
| Northamptonshire | 2.5% | Peterborough | 18% |
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
Media team
