LARAC is pleased to have been selected to provide a response to the government’s private consultation on Exemptions and Statutory guidance for England, published by Defra on 21 October.
It is our understanding that all English local authorities have been invited to respond, plus other key stakeholders including LARAC.
There are a few key areas included as part of the consultation, and one area in particular which holds specific interest for LARAC and its members is the government’s proposal to minimise residual collection frequency to fortnightly, with the added preference for weekly collections.
LARAC’s response to this aspect of the consultation will include key supporting evidence showing that restricting residual waste through frequency or container size positively impacts recycling rates, and that the absence of this crucial lever could seriously undermine the government’s policies for meeting the recycling targets of at least 65% of all municipal waste recycled by 2025 and for reducing residual waste (excluding major mineral wastes) on a kg per capita by 50% by 2042 from 2019 levels.
In addition to this, there is a wealth of evidence that restricting residual waste frequency can save local authorities significant amounts of money, whilst still providing first rate services to residents. This is key when considering the requirement to deliver effective and efficient services under EPR.
LARAC Chair Cathy Cook stated:
“Once again it is disappointing to see government missing the opportunities around reducing residual waste. They have progressed their policies around dry recycling and organic waste, which will help to go some way to support an increase in recycling. However, the lack of commitment towards residual waste restriction will subsequently undermine these policies, which seems ludicrous.
Local authorities work hard to implement improved services for dry recycling, food waste and garden waste; however, if residents know their residual waste will be collected either weekly or fortnightly, they will continue to place some of these valuable recyclable materials into their residual bins. Without any real incentives or disincentives, there is little that local authorities can do to change this. Restricting residual collections is obviously a key driver for behaviour change which is evidenced by recycling performance in other UK nations such as Wales.”
Other aspects of the consultation include the exemption to separate out dry recycling materials from each other for collection, the comingling of food and garden waste and arrangements for collections from non-household premises.
LARAC welcomes the opportunity for local authorities to have more flexibility over the containers used and the service methodology (co-mingled, twin stream or multi stream), for dry recycling and organic waste, as there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution, due to the variations in rurality, housing type and deprivation, alongside other local authority specific criteria. LARAC feels that local authorities are best placed to understand what would be most achievable within their own local authority area.
Alongside local authorities across England and other key stakeholders, LARAC looks forward to seeing the results from this consultation and the development of the Statutory Guidance, in order to continue with the long-awaited progression of the Collection and Packaging reforms.
For further information please contact Toni McNamara, Policy and Communications Lead, LARAC, on toni.mcnamara@larac.org.uk
