The Hertfordshire Waste Partnership is drawing up guidance for its local authorities to use to support commingled collections and safeguard against legal challenges over TEEP.
The guidance, which will be available to the 10 waste collection authorities within the county – many of whom currently operate a commingled service – is currently at an ‘early stage’. Hertfordshire Waste Partnership hopes to have a final version available by the summer.
The partnership is developing its own guidance because from January 2015, local authorities will be required to carry out separate collections of paper, glass, metal, plastic and glass, unless it is not technically, economically or environmentally practicable (TEEP) for them to do so.
The document is likely to draw on a ‘resource pack’ being developed by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) in conjunction with groups including the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) and the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers (NAWDO).
WRAP intends to publish the pack in May and it is being designed to help authorities understand what the requirements of TEEP are and what they should consider when making service changes.
Defra opted last month not to publish statutory guidance for councils despite a draft document having been drawn up. The only formal advice from the department has come in a letter, sent out last October, on TEEP from former resource minister Lord de Mauley.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Duncan Jones, partnership development manager at the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, explained that the Partnership had opted to draw up its own document when it had become apparent that Defra would not be offering any formal advice to councils.
Local authorities have been keen to see guidance on TEEP as there are concerns that any council failing to comply with the law could face costly legal challenges, with the Campaign for Real Recycling (CRR), which has long championed sorting over commingled collections, not ruling out the possibility of legal action.
LARAC chair Andrew Bird expressed the fear that local authorities have about the threat of a legal challenge.
He said: “The Campaign for Real Recycling has been honest in the approach that they have a particular view and they will want to challenge that and more than likely through the courts. It is a very real issue and as such local authorities are worried because of that. So, in their defence they really do need to make sure for service changes in the future that they go through a robust decision making process.”
Describing the work that LARAC is doing alongside WRAP to provide information for local authorities, Mr Bird said it is important for councils to have ‘consistent’ information on TEEP.
He added: “It is more what I would term a framework rather than guidance in its strictest form. It helps them make sure that they go through a robust process and ask themselves and their key stakeholders the right questions.'
“One of the things that we want to be absolutely clear about is that it is important to have consistent information. So organisations like LARAC and others can really come together to produce a single message, a single framework because this subject is so emotive. It would not be right for us to go off as individuals with our own views because I don’t think that would help at all and would just lead to more uncertainty.”
Mr Bird also explained that the document will offer guidance on what evidence they will need to produce in order to back up their decisions should a legal challenge be made.
Link to Teep conference - 12 March
Link to Andrew Bird's interview on the role of LARAC with Amy North at letsrecycle
