Home > Press releases > 2003: Recycling & Budget 2003: Missed Opportunity
Apr 10 2003
The Chancellor's Budget has raised serious concerns about how far the Government is prepared to go to deal with the UK's waste crisis Friends of the Earth said today.
The Government is considering its response to the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit's review of waste strategy. A response will probably be published after the May local elections. But yesterday's Budget provides an indication of how far the Government is prepared to go to move away from landfill and incineration, and towards much higher household recycling.
A rise in the landfill tax - this is welcome, but it needs to rise by more than £3 a tonne each year or landfill will remain too cheap for too long.
Peformance Fund - Friends of the Earth welcomes the idea of using landfill tax revenue paid by local authorities to set up a Waste Management Performance Fund to give local government incentives for improving the way it deals with household waste. But if it is to be `non-ringfenced' operational details will need to be known to satisfy us that the fund won't have a negative effect on money available for waste minimisation and recycling. Non-ringfenced money does not have to be spent on waste reduction and recycling. The Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund did. The Treasury should consult more widely on this with stakeholders, not just local authorities.
An end to perverse tax break for incinerators - the budget failed to remove perverse tax break for incinerators. Subsidies and tax breaks are lavished on incineration mainly through energy policy. But recycling receives no tax break or support for the energy it saves even though this is far greater than the amount recovered by incineration. We need an economic framework which removes the temptation to burn waste and supports re-use and reduction.
Charging for waste - it's disappointing that there was no commitment to allow local authorities to charge households for how much waste they put out.
Friends of the Earth's Senior Waste Campaigner, Claire Wilton, said
"This Budget was a wasted opportunity for dealing with the UK's appalling recycling record. Although Mr Brown took a few small steps forward in the right direction, more money for recycling and reducing waste is urgently needed. Communities across the country will be angry with the Government for failing to tackle incineration, and will blame the Chancellor for continuing to lavish the incineration industry with undeserved subsidies. An ambitious response to the Strategy Unit's report on the Government's waste strategy is desperately needed to reverse our failure to reduce and recycle more."
Tougher duties on local authorities to increase recycling and provide doorstep collections for all households are even more important if the Government really is to deliver the step-change in sustainable waste management for all households that the Chancellor called for. The Government should support Joan Ruddock MP's Municipal Waste and Recycling Bill, due to start its committee stage in May.
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
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