Revenue from landfill tax and other economic instruments should be used to support the separate collection of waste in the UK, a report from the European Commission has recommended.
And, pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) schemes could also be introduced to incentivise recycling in the UK, the report adds.
Data included in the EU report suggests that the UK is on track to meet 2020 recycling targets, but does not include latest data from 2015
The recommendations are part of a review by the Commission into the implementation of environmental regulations by EU Member States, in which it praises the UK for its performance in boosting recycling since 2007, with specific reports published for each EU state.
The UK report, which contains recycling figures up to 2014, suggests that the UK is on track to meet the EU’s 50% by 2020 recycling target by 2020 – although this does not factor in data from 2015, in which the UK’s recycling rate dropped (see letsrecycle.com story).
The report notes: “A landfill tax is in place in UK and this has begun to produce clear impacts on reducing landfilling. Limited extended producer responsibility (EPR) (few waste streams covered) or equivalent systems are in place and are unable to cover the full costs of separate collection and recycling of the main waste streams.”
Recommendations
However, the Commission also adds that ‘additional incentives’ will be needed to limit landfill to 10% of residual waste by 2030 – which is among the proposed targets set out in revisions to waste legislation as part of the EU’s Circular Economy package.
The report also advocates three proposals for the UK, which are:
– To phase out landfilling of recyclable and recoverable waste and use revenues from economic instruments to support the separate collection and alternative infrastructure.
–Introduce new economic instruments (e.g. PAYT) to further implement the waste hierarchy, through measures such as promoting waste prevention, making reuse and recycling more economically attractive, and shifting reusable and recyclable waste away from incineration.
–Improving the performance of the extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes covering the main waste streams to ensure appropriate and sustainable funding of separate collection, sorting and recycling.
Channelling landfill tax revenue into projects to boost the collection and recycling of waste has long been a demand of the Local Government Association (LGA) which called for Revenue Support Grants to be issued to councils to help meet the 50% by 2020 target in 2015 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Elsewhere, the report highlights backing of WRAP by the UK and devolved administrations as an area where the UK has put in place concrete measures towards a circular economy and praised the London Waste and Recycling Board, for the publication of its ‘Towards a Circular Economy’ report in 2015.
The Green Investment Bank is also praised – an investment body set up by the coalition government in 2011 to funnel finance towards environmental projects.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
