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Without determined action from everyone, local authorities across the country could be handling a massive 50 million tonnes of household waste a year by 2020. Acting now to cut this waste mountain will avoid the need for hundreds of extra new waste disposal facilities in the coming decades.
Until now, the answer has been to bury rubbish in the ground, known as landfill sites. However, these sites will not always be available and environmental concerns about them are growing.
The main gas given off by material breaking down in landfill sites is methane. It takes more than 30 years before all dangerous gases are removed from these sites and they become safe. It is an expensive business controlling methane emissions, although gas from some sites is 'captured' and re-used.
Everyone accepts that an alternative to landfill has to be found. To discourage this practice the Government introduced a Landfill Tax, which is currently £14 per tonne (from 1 April 2003) for most household waste. In 2002/03 the cost to ELWA of the Landfill Tax was in excess of £5.5 million.
In order to address this, and other waste-related problems, the Government published a Waste Strategy for England and Wales in 2000. The Strategy included tough statutory targets for recycling, developing new markets for recycled waste and enlisting householders in the drive to recycle and compost more waste.
Launching the strategy, the Environment Minister, Michael Meacher, said: "Waste is a growing problem which is costing us all dear.
"The Waste Strategy shows how we can achieve our prime objectives of cutting waste and making the most use of the waste we do create.
"It will not only
help save money and space, it will help our fight against climate change
because recycling saves energy and cuts down on the amount of methane
emitted from landfills."
Nowhere is the waste problem more evident than in London. The capital city generates around 3.5 million tonnes of household waste a year, a further 10 million tonnes of commercial and industrial waste and 14 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste.
In the boroughs which make up ELWA alone, over 550,000 tonnes of waste is now being produced, compared to 403,000 tonnes 10 years ago. In the next 25 years, if nothing is done to check the increase, it is expected to virtually double from current day levels.
Most of the waste
goes to landfill but, just like the national picture, this is not sustainable.
London's Mayor, Ken Livingstone, has produced his own Municipal Waste
Management Strategy for the whole of London.
The major aim of the Strategy, which was due to be formally adopted in the summer 2003, is that by 2020, municipal waste should no longer compromise London's future as a sustainable city.
To achieve this long-term goal, the Mayor says lifestyle habits must change so Londoners each produce only the minimum amount of waste and reduce the pressures on the environment.
Secondly, he believes waste should be managed better so that its impact on the local and the global environment and on Londoners' community, economy and health is minimised. To read the Mayor's full Municipal Waste Management Strategy go to:
http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/waste/index.jsp
In order to comply with the Landfill Directive, the Government has established, through the Waste Strategy 2000, a series of national targets.
These aim to recycle or compost at least 25% of household waste by 2005. These figures increase to 30% by 2010 and 33% by 2015.
To achieve these national recycling and composting rates, statutory standards have been set for both waste collection and waste disposal authorities.
These require that by 2003/4, areas with under 5% recycling and composting rates in 1998/9 must achieve at least 10%. Authorities with 5%-15% recycling rates are required to at least double their rates, and all other authorities will have to recycle or compost at least a third of household waste.
By 2005/6, the authorities with recycling and composting rates less than 6% in 1998/9 are required to achieve at least 18% and those achieving 6%-12% rates of recycling and composting are required to at least treble their recycling rate.
Those who recycled or composted 12-18% in 1998/9 must reach 36% and all other authorities must reach 40%.
These standards would
deliver the National Target recycling rate of 25% by 2005/6.
www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/index.htm
In partnership with Shanks and the four councils, ELWA proposes to divert more than 67% of waste from landfill by 2016 and ensure that it meets or beats the Government recycling targets for 2003 and beyond. Together, ELWA and Shanks believe the new facilities and methods of waste management proposed for the future will achieve a 33% recycling rate within five years of the start of the contract. This is more than the target for recycling in the National Waste Strategy.
See Fact File 5 for Results and Benefits and Fact File 6 for Targets and Achievements. Questions 29-32 in the Standard Q&As also deal with targets.
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