Archived press release

Government to unveil English Waste Strategy

18 May 2007

The Government is expected to publish a new English Waste Strategy next week (w/c Monday 21 May 2007). It is the first major environmental strategy to be published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs since David Miliband took over as Secretary for State, and is a key test of his environmental credentials.

Friends of the Earth's Waste Campaigner, Michael Warhurst said:

"The England Waste Strategy will be a real test of David Miliband's environmental credentials. Sending waste to incineration or landfill is a waste of valuable resources and contributes to climate change. If Mr Miliband is serious about tackling climate change he must introduce a strategy that promotes reuse, recycling, and composting of waste and discourages landfill and incineration."

Background

The English Waste Strategy

The English Waste Strategy is likely to be published in the week beginning Monday 21 May. The strategy will set out how England will deal with waste and resources up until at least 2020 and will guide local authorities on how to deal with household waste. It follows on from a consultation document that was published in February 2006.

The strategy's development has been mainly driven by the need to ensure that England reaches targets set by the European Union for reducing the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill. These targets were introduced to help tackle climate change. Biodegradable waste - such as food waste and paper - breaks down in landfills to produce methane, a greenhouse gas.

The strategy is likely to include the following measures:

Incineration

In the consultation document in February 2006 the Government suggested that they wanted a substantial increase in incineration, particularly `Energy from Waste' incinerators which use some of the heat produced by burning waste to generate electricity and which industry claim to be a source of renewable energy. However research has shown that this claim is incorrect - these incinerators emit more fossil-fuel derived carbon dioxide than a gas fired power station [1].

There are currently 18 incinerators burning domestic waste in England. With financial and political backing from Government this number could more than double in the next few years. Twenty nine new incinerators are currently under consideration in England [2].

Plans to build incinerators often face fierce opposition from local communities, and Friends of the Earth has been assisting community groups in setting up a new national anti-incineration campaign network, `UK Without Incineration Network', which will be working to prevent the building of new incinerators around the country.

Incinerators are not just a problem from a climate change point of view - they also produce other air pollution and burn materials that are better recycled or composted. Local authorities also become tied into providing a minimum amount of waste to incinerators over long periods of time. This can discourage them from reducing waste or increasing recycling and composting services.

Recycling and Composting Targets

The Government suggested in its consultation document that it would set a target for recycling and composting household waste of 50 per cent by 2020. However, in the same consultation it calculated that 60% recycling would be much better for the climate. The recycling target published in the strategy will be a key test of the Government's commitment to taking action on climate change.

England currently recycles just 27 per cent of its household waste. Flanders in northern Belgium is currently recycling 71 per cent.

It is unclear whether the Government will introduce recycling and composting targets for business and industry. There are currently no targets which means the majority of commercial waste still ends up in landfill. Commercial waste currently accounts for 20 per cent of all the waste we produce in England and is predicted to grow by more than 50 per cent by 2020.

Recycling and composting makes sense both economically and environmentally. For example old aluminium cans can fetch more than £800 per tonne and producing recycled aluminium takes just five per cent of the energy needed to produce virgin aluminium - significantly cutting down on carbon dioxide emissions. Despite this we recycle less than half of the aluminium cans we use in the UK.

A detailed study looking at the climate impacts of recycling, land filling or incinerating different materials concluded that recycling was best for the climate. It calculated that the carbon savings of our current recycling rate is the equivalent of taking 3.5 million cars off the road [5].

Separate Collection of Food Waste

The Government is expected to strongly encourage local authorities to collect food waste separately every week, so that it can be treated to produce a bio-gas. This bio-gas can be used to produce 100 per cent renewable heat and electricity. Research has shown that this is the most environmentally beneficial way of dealing with food waste [3].

Charging for Waste Collection

The Government has said that it supports some form of incentive scheme to encourage people to put out less "black bag" waste and recycle more. However it is likely there will be further consultation on this issue after the strategy is published.

Friends of the Earth's View

Friends of the Earth is calling for the English waste strategy to:

(1) Increase the target for recycling and composting household waste to 75 percent by 2015 and introduce new legally binding targets for businesses to reduce, recycle and compost their waste.

(2) Phase in a ban on sending waste that can be reused, recycled or composted to land fill or incineration.

(3) Introduce a tax on incineration to discourage the incineration of waste which could be recycled or composted (similar to the landfill tax introduced in 1996). Work carried out for the Treasury has shown that an incineration tax is justified in environmental and social terms [4].

(4) Introduce a target for waste prevention: Friends of the Earth is calling for the Government to prevent the amount of total waste produced from rising beyond 2010. This would require action to cut down on avoidable waste such as excess packaging.

Notes

[1] "A changing climate for energy from waste?", Eunomia Consultants for Friends of the Earth, May 2006: www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/changing_climate.pdf (PDF)
Summarised in "Dirty Truths: Incineration and Climate Change", Friends of the Earth, May 2006: www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/dirty_truths.pdf (PDF)

[2] For a list of proposed incinerators in England please see http://community.foe.co.uk/campaigns/waste/incineration/list.html

[3] "Dealing with Food Waste in the UK", Eunomia Research and Consulting March 2007

[4] "Combining the Government's Two Heath and Environment Studies to Calculate Estimates for the External Costs of Landfill and Incineration", HM Customs & Excise, 2004.

[5] "Environmental benefits of recycling: An international review of life cycle comparisons for key materials in the UK recycling sector", Waste & Resources Action Programme, 2006.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust