UK Plans Waste Trading to Limit Landfilling

LONDON, UK, November 18, 2002 (ENS) - The Blair government Friday unveiled details of draft legislation allowing it to specify how much biodegradable municipal waste local authorities will be allowed to dump in landfill sites. A key aspect of the new law is that authorities will be able to trade their "landfill allowances" in a scheme the environment ministry says may be "the first of its kind in Europe."

Rubbish in the UK (Photo courtesy Freefoto)

The government aims by 2010 to reduce biodegradable municipal waste landfilled to 75 percent of that produced in 1995.

By 2013, the target is to reduce biodegradable municipal waste landfilled to 50 percent of that produced in 1995, and by 2020 to reduce biodegradable municipal waste landfilled to 35 percent of that produced in 1995.

Biodegradable waste is waste which will degrade either in the presence of air or without air. It includes waste such as cardboard, paper, food and green waste and natural textiles. As this waste degrades in landfills it produces methane which is a powerful greenhouse gas.

These landfill allowances may be tradable between authorities allowing the UK as a whole to share the burden of meeting the European Union Landfill Directive.

Rubbish in a UK field (Photo courtesy Freefoto)

Commenting on the report, Friends of the Earth UK said the government "has to ensure that two thirds of waste is diverted from landfill by 2020." Friends of the Earth is promoting a parliamentary bill which would force local authorities to provide a quality doorstep recycling and composting service to every household in the country.

The same bill that established the landfill allowance trading scheme will put on a legal footing the UK's greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme that officially was launched in April.

The legislation introduces financial penalties for direct participants in the UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme who fail to comply with their emissions reduction targets. It will also enable the provision of penalties for future trading emissions schemes, with the goal of ensuring that the market for any scheme works effectively.

Details of the draft law were published in parliament two days after being announced alongside a raft of other planned legislation in the annual "Queen's speech" outlining the government's forthcoming legislative priorities.

Among these plans is a draft law updating water regulation rules, giving the environment agency greater powers in managing abstraction licenses so as to boost water conservation and improve drought management.

Plans announced in July to create an agency to manage legacy nuclear waste were also confirmed. Draft legislation to set up the body is expected next spring.

{Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily, Europe's choice for environmental news. Environmental Data Services Ltd, London. Email: envdaily@ends.co.uk}