LARAC has welcomed the new CIWM AEA Ricardo Report ‘Waste on the Frontline – Challenges and Innovations’ as a much needed piece of research as well as being a valuable guide of good practice. LARAC believes the report demonstrates the innovation and desire to reshape public services that exists within local authorities whilst also giving a true picture of the scale of the cuts having to be considered by waste managers. LARAC is concerned that the report shows the biggest impacts are being felt by staff, with restructures and redundancies being reported by a large number of the survey respondents.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Lee Marshall, Chief Executive Officer LARAC, said ‘We should be rightly positive about the manner in which local authorities have risen to the economic challenges they have been set. Equally we need to be clear about what this report is saying – the challenge has not yet finished and will get harder over the next five years.’
LARAC is also concerned that the largest non-staff budget area considered for cuts is that of communications and awareness. LARAC believes communications and awareness raising are vital to increasing the recycling rates in the UK, but with the scale of the cuts LARAC is calling on the wider industry to support local authorities in getting the message across to residents. LARAC has also urged all parts of the industry to have a grown up and constructive dialogue on how funding can be levered back into local authority collections from end markets and producer responsibility areas.
Lee Marshall added ‘It would be great to think this report might act as the catalyst for this conversation’
LARAC points out that directed government support appears to be paying dividends in Wales and Scotland and so now is the time for a similar situation to be put in place for English authorities, even if elements of that funding come from the private sector to help them achieve their targets.
