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New law will increase incineration not recycling

1 April 2005

A new Government scheme launched today (April 1) aimed at improving the environment will simply increase the amount of rubbish being burnt by councils rather than encouraging recycling, according to Friends of the Earth.

The new Landfill Allowance Scheme is aimed at helping the UK reduce the amount of biodegradable waste buried in landfill sites - known to produce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas and cause pollution.

However Friends of the Earth argues that the scheme will simply see waste being burnt rather than buried. The organisation is calling for higher national recycling targets to be brought in, along with a tax on burning waste and the removal of current financial incentives for incineration. From today local councils that already send waste to incinerators will get additional financial benefits from the new Landfill Allowance Scheme.

Friends of the Earth's senior waste campaigner Claire Wilton said:

"We urgently need to drive waste away from landfill, but not into the arms of incinerator operators. The public wants to recycle, not burn rubbish. The Government must remove the financial incentive to incinerate rubbish and introduce higher national recycling targets."

Eight councils in England will even be permitted to landfill more in 2020 than they do today because they incinerate waste. They are: Coventry DC, Dudley MBC, Hartlepool BC, the London Borough of Lewisham, Middlesbrough BC, Stockton-on-Tees BC, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Wolverhampton MBC.

Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to:

Remove subsidies it gives incinerators or introduce an incinerator tax
Introduce higher national recycling targets of 50% by 2010 and 75% by 2015, backed up by targets for each local authority.

Notes

The Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme

The Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme was introduced in the Waste and Emissions Trading Act which became law in 2003 and takes effect in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland from today (April 1). The scheme began in Wales on 1 October 2004.

It is designed to help the UK reach its obligation under the EU Landfill Directive to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste landfilled in 2020 to just 35% of waste produced in 1995. [2]

Land filling biodegradable waste has significant negative effects on the environment and human health. Amongst other risks it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

The total amount of biodegradable municipal waste that is allowed to be landfilled in the UK has been divided up between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Separate regulations to make the scheme work are in place in each nation. The main difference between the four schemes is that trading of allowances between local authorities is permitted only in England and Scotland.

How will it work in England?

Each local authority has been allocated an allowance in tonnes for the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) it can send to landfill. The allocation reduces progressively year-on-year until 2020. [3] Local authorities are allowed to trade their allowances with other authorities if they feel they have more or less allowances than they need. They can also `bank' the allowances for future years, or `borrow' future allowances for earlier use.

Local authorities will be fined £150 per tonne if they landfill more than their allocation without buying extra allocations (this is around three times the current cost of landfill). There are extra penalties for breaching allocations in the Landfill Directive's `target years' of 2010, 2013 and 2020. [4]

Friends of the Earth's concerns

`Respecting the limits of the planet's environment, resources and biodiversity' is an important guiding principle in the Government's Sustainable Development strategy. [5] Friends of the Earth is concerned that LATS will undermine this principle in three ways.

1. It will drive up incineration

LATS will drive municipal biodegradable waste away from landfill and this will bring environmental benefits. However, Friends of the Earth fears that LATS will result in that waste being incinerated instead. Incineration is not environmentally preferable to landfill. A Government report published in 2004 demonstrated that the negative environmental costs of landfill and incineration are about the same. [6]

There are political reasons why incineration has not taken off in the UK. Incineration is deeply unpopular among local communities because it wastes valuable resources which are otherwise recyclable; it removes the incentive to reduce and recycle waste; and it creates polluting emissions and toxic ash which still has to go to landfill.

In consequence, a large number of facilities have been successfully fought off by many local communities in the last five years. But to ensure the environment is properly protected from the damage caused by incineration, new policy and economic measures are urgently needed.

Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to remove the subsidies that it gives incinerators or to introduce an incinerator tax when LATS becomes law on 1stApril.

2. It will divert attention from recycling

In 2000 the Government set a target to divert 67 per cent of municipal waste (in England and Wales) from landfill by 2015. Although diversion from landfill is important, it plays just a small part in managing resources and waste in a more sustainable way. Recycling brings considerable environmental benefits because it:

Conserves natural resources - by re-using raw materials that would otherwise need to be harvested or mined and then processed into new products;
Saves energy - far more energy can be saved through recycling than is recovered through incineration;
Creates more jobs than either landfill or incineration - for example, recycling newspapers creates three times as many jobs as incinerating them. [7]

Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to introduce higher national recycling targets, backed up by targets for each local authority. By increasing the national recycling targets to 50 per cent by 2015 and 75 per cent by 2020 the Government would help ensure that waste diverted from landfill does not end up in incinerators. Friends of the Earth's report `Target Recycling: Aiming for 50 per cent and beyond' sets out the case for higher recycling targets. [8]

The Government must also introduce financial penalties for local authorities which miss their recycling targets. While local authorities will be heavily fined for breaching their landfill allowances, recycling targets are not supported by effective penalties. The poorest performers simply face "personal engagement" from the Environment Minister. [9]

3. It will reward councils who incinerate

Local authorities sending their waste to incinerators are clear winners under LATS. The allocations up to 2010 are based on how much waste a local authority landfilled in 2001-2 (the base year). Fourteen councils in England which incinerate waste actually see their landfill allocation increase in the first 5 years of the scheme. After 2010, the allocations are based on the proportion of waste arising in each local authority. Although authorities with incinerators must then begin to reduce the amount they landfill, they will still have plenty of spare allowances to sell at a profit.

Case studies

LATS will benefit councils which incinerate waste:

Coventry

Coventry District Council burns almost 90 per cent of its municipal waste. Its 2005-6 BMW landfill allowance is 19,030 tonnes. This increases steadily to a high of 71,162 tonnes in 2010, then reduces but only as far as 33,167 in 2020.

Stockton on Tees

Stockton on Tees Borough Council sends 94 per cent of its municipal waste to the Billingham incinerator on Teesside. The council landfilled 3,416 tonnes of BMW in 2001-2 and will be permitted to landfill five times more than this in 2020. Its allowance is set at 16,981 tonnes for that year.

Some local authorities have announced new recycling measures in the face of the demand made by LATS including:

Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes council has a no-incineration policy. It is hoping to build a new in-vessel composting facility and start collections of food waste to avoid LATS fines. Milton Keynes is permitted to send 66,028 tonnes of biodegradable waste to landfill in 2005/06 but must reduce this to 44,753 tonnes by 2010. Milton Keynes Council recycling officer Melanie Chiltern said: "Because of our no-incineration policy it is going to be difficult for us to reach our LATS targets. Obviously the collection of more biodegradable waste is a perfect option for us because it will count towards both LATS and recycling rates."

Plymouth

Plymouth City Council outlined a range of new recycling services in February that will help them avoid LATS fines. The new services include can and plastic recycling bins in the city centre, more recycling in schools and in the University, and a round-by-round recycling education programme.

Cabinet Member for Environment and Street Services Councillor George Wheeler said: "The new regulations set targets for all councils and if the city fails to improve its recycling performance it will result in substantial fines. It is in all of our interests to meet these targets to avoid being hit in the pocket."

Plymouth is allowed to landfill a maximum of 98,155 tonnes of biodegradable waste in 2005/6. The City Council collects over 141,000 tonnes of waste each year. [10]

Notes

[1] LATS regulations for England: Landfill Allowance and Trading Scheme (England) Regulations 2004. Separate regulations cover the implementation of the scheme in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

[2] The Landfill Directive (EC Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste) requires the UK:

by 2010 to reduce the amount of BMW going to landfill to 75% of that produced in 1995;
by 2013 to reduce the amount of BMW going to landfill to 50% of that produced in 1995;
by 2020 to reduce the amount of BMW going to landfill to 35% of that produced in 1995.

[3] The allocations for each local authority in England can be found on Defra's web site:

www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/lats/index.htm

[4] Originally the fine proposed for English authorities was £200 a tonne but the Environment Minister Elliot Morley reduced it in December 2004 to take the heat off local authorities' council tax bills. The penalty in Wales and Scotland remains at £200 a tonne.

[5] HM Government (2005) `The UK Government Sustainable Development Strategy'.

[6] HM Customs & Excise (2004) `Combining the Government's two health and environment studies to calculate estimates for the external costs of landfill and incineration'.

[7] British Newsprint Manufacturers Association (1996) `Recycle or Incinerate - the Future for Used Newspapers: an independent evaluation'.

[8] Friends of the Earth (2005) `Target Recycling: Aiming for 50 per cent and beyond'.

www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/target_recycling.pdf (PDF)

[9] Defra press release, 18 January 2005, `Recycling: England achieves a personal best'.

[10] For more information see www.plymouth.gov.uk/newsreleases?newsid=43260

Frequently asked questions about LATS from Defra's web site:
www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/lats/faqs.htm

Regional recycling rates 2003-4 (provisional)

Source: Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey, Published March 2005

Region 2003-4

North East 11.9
London 13.2
North West 14.1
Yorkshire & Humber 14.5
West Midlands 16.0
East Midlands 19.2
South West 21.4
South East 22.7
East 23.3

England average 17.7

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust

Last modified: Jun 2008