Analysis


Waste’s changing role: What does 2014 hold?


As far as waste management is concerned, 2013 didn’t end on a high. The new waste minister decided that he was “stepping back” from waste policy while new data shows that recycling rates are also clearly plateauing. Does this make for a tougher 2014? David Burrows investigates.


David Burrows Freelance writer


A


T THE start of 2014, an important question for the waste management sector is: ‘Will there be more opportunities for a sector that, in the wake of the economic


downturn, has managed to grow and still has the potential to drive green growth and create new jobs?’


Political imbalance


Having consulted a number of the industry’s experts, there were few who didn’t mention the grey cloud of confusion hanging over Whitehall and policies including waste, energy and the environment.


The Renewable Energy Association (REA) noted that the public debate around energy policy in particular has gone “from fever pitch to farce”, with its members already reporting problems securing investment. “We need a clear statement from the government - not one party or the other, not one department or the other - but from the government, on its commitment to delivering the low carbon energy infrastructure this country so desperately needs,” says chief executive Nina Skorupska, following reports


of the prime minister’s current thinking on green policies.


David Cameron is the man who, in opposition, went from hugging hoodies to hugging huskies. In power he then took three years to make one relevant speech on the environment. But he isn’t alone in turning from blue to green and then grey. Greenpeace recently published a series of the chancellor George Osborne’s speeches pre-2010’s election. Most notable among them are: “I see in this green recovery not just the fight against climate change, but the fight for jobs, the fight for new industry, the fight for lower family energy bills and the fight for less wasteful government.”


And: “If I become chancellor, the Treasury will become a green ally, not a foe.” Everyone knows what happened next.


Friend or foe


The new waste minister Dan Rogerson seems to have followed their lead, having decided to reduce support for the waste sector. He feels the responsibility for taking work forward will largely rest with the industries concerned. In his open letter, Rogerson also said that support for local authorities will be cut “given the strong financial case for [them] to realise efficiencies from their waste contracts”. Adam Read is practice director for waste management and resource efficiency at


consultants Ricardo-AEA. He says Defra’s stance doesn’t help local authorities still struggling to adjust to high diversion solutions with budget constrictions. “I am all in favour of light touch government, but are UK businesses really ready to embrace the circular economy, to change their supply chains and to consider packaging and product redesign and new resource efficiency business models such as leasing, take-back and the like? “I don’t think so, not on the whole; and so we may find the transition painful and slow for the majority of UK plc. I would have favoured Defra and BIS [the department for business] taking a more active hand in the transition,” adds Read.


A group of industry representatives, including ADBA, REA, CIWM, ESA and the Resource Association reached out to Rogerson at the end of last year: “As organisations representing responsible operators and professionals in the sector we are concerned that progress in improving resource management in England had already stalled in a number of areas even before your recent announcement,” they wrote. “However, rather than simply criticise the government, and recognising the resource constraints in your department, we would like to offer to work closely with you and your officials at Defra to help turn this situation around.”


Clearly the government is seeking to reduce centralised costs across all sectors, thus support to local authorities and the waste sector will be hit. For Alban Forster, consulting director at consultants SLR, the key question is whether the support in recent years is enough to effect permanent change. He cites two tensions.


First: as public sector procurements diminish will there be enough merchant-based market security for the further infrastructure investment that is needed - or has the government pulled the plug too soon? And second: with the removal of local authority funding, and specific targets, as well as incentives for source segregation of multiple materials, there may be an “erosion of recycling performance”.


I see in this green recovery not just the fight against climate change, but the fight for new industry and the fight for less wasteful government


Recycling plateaus


Swingeing cuts to public budgets have made life tough for councils, with recycling rates having tailed off in 2012/13.


“Recycling is flatlining and industry bodies will need to work together to find ways to boost public awareness with messages that resonate with today’s householders,” says CIWM chief executive Steve Lee. The impact of the Waste Framework Directive [WFD] on recycling collections will also “start to bite” in 2014, he adds, “so all UK governments need to provide adequate guidance to local authorities to help them make legally sound decisions about the services they provide.”


Clarity on collection methods should definitely be on the agenda in 2014. Councils have been left confused following (former resource minister) Lord de Mauley’s letter in October, in which he suggested they will have to collect some recyclables “by way of separate collection” under the WFD.


Quality not quantity


Swingeing cuts to public budgets have made life tough for local authorities with recycling rates tailing off in 2012/13 and now clearly fl atlining 6 January 23 2014


www.recyclingwasteworld.co.uk


Much was made of the drive for better quality recyclates last year, the Resource Association kicked things off with its Costs of Contamination Report, in which costs of £51m a year were associated with the management


Recycling &WASTE WORLD


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