'Landfill habit' could be difficult to break
6 Dec 2000
The UK could need to more than treble the amount of waste it recycles if it is to meet European regulations limiting the use of landfill, according to the Environmental Industries Commission. Tax incentives are needed to help the country break its 'landfill habit', it claims in a new report.
The European Landfill Directive, which came into force last year, set strict limits on the amount of waste sent to landfills. To meet its targets, the EIC says, the country must reduce waste sent to landfill by 3 per cent over the next 20 years, from its present total of 96million tpa.
It will also have to build 23 new waste-to-energy plants consuming an average of 200 000tpa each; 175 composting units handling 40 000tpa each; and 200 new incinerators or treatment plants for hazardous waste, consuming on average 20 000tpa each. The targets for waste minimisation and recycling are even more daunting: a 22 per cent improvement on the former, and a 360 per cent increase in the amount of waste used for recycling, compared with its present performance of just 5million tpa.
An action plan is needed to help meet these targets, which represent a wholesale change of culture, the EIC says. Sustainable waste management techniques should be rewarded by tax breaks, it says, while the government's waste recycling action programme needs additional funding. The EIC is also calling for action on product standards, to promote the use of recycled materials, alongside 'an intensive, sustained programme of public information to change the perception of recycled products.'
The government's existing policies on waste treatment 'remain weak on real action,' says EIC director Merlin Hyman. 'The prize for our environment and economy of more sustainable methods of tackling waste is huge, but only government action will free UK companies' creativity to take that prize.'
