29 May 2007

FUND AND WE WILL DELIVER ON WASTE STRATEGY SAYS CSS

The ideas contained in the new waste strategy for England have received a cautious welcome from CSS. But the body representing local authority directors with front-line responsibility for tackling the huge challenges insists that the Government must now unlock the funding they need to deliver success.

David Harvey, chair of the CSS Waste Committee, said today: “The agenda is a daunting one but there is no shortage of commitment amongst our members. We are confident that, by working in partnership with Government and the waste industry, we can put in place the solutions that are needed to tackle climate change and deliver a more sustainable approach to waste management.

“But Government must not underestimate the scale of what lies ahead and it must recognise that real progress will be impossible unless it makes good the serious current shortfall in capital and revenue investment.  We have seen commendable linkage with the new White Papers on energy and planning – we now need to see all that underpinned by financial commitment in the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.”

Mr Harvey said that CSS members were also concerned about the effectiveness of some emerging technologies in diverting materials from the waste stream in the absence of guaranteed markets for refuse-derived fuels. And there were doubts about the capacity of the waste industry to deliver the sheer volume of new waste treatment facilities that will be needed to achieve the targets set.  Operators were, he said, often reluctant to commit to the necessary investment given risks associated with winning the necessary planning permissions.

On the plus side, CSS particularly welcomes:

• The fact that more emphasis is being placed on waste minimisation and re-use and in securing the necessary investment to divert more waste from landfill
• Introduction of a new target to reduce the amount of household waste not re-used, recycled or composted together with national targets for recycling and composting of household waste and recovery of municipal waste
• Development of waste protocols to clarify when waste ceases to be waste.

Mr Harvey added: “At the waste collection end of the equation, some form of revenue-neutral financial incentive scheme for householders may help to ensure that targets for waste reduction, recycling and composting are met. Early success is important because our members, as waste disposal authorities, have to plan the capacity of new treatment facilities.”

ends

Media contact

Barrie Hedges, Daybreak Communications office 0845 644 3845; mobile 07899 923756; barrie.hedges@daybreakcomm.co.uk

Note to editors

• CSS represents the Directors of Strategic Planning, Transportation, Environment, Waste Management and Economic Development throughout the UK.  Its members' responsibilities cover more than half the population, 75% of the highways and 90% of the land area of the country.
• CSS is leading current thinking on how strategic councils can deal with growing quantities of municipal waste. It commissioned research to quantify the scale of the cost of treatment and disposal and has used this information to advise local and central Government.
• CSS members recognise that the way ahead lies in treating waste as a resource and in much greater investment in new technologies. Achieving acceptance from local communities will require a sustained nationwide information programme and close local consultation on specific projects. This, with other recycling and waste reduction initiatives, would help to drive council recycling levels up from the current average of 22 per cent to nearer 50 per cent.