Ben Caldecott is Head of Policy Exchange's Environment & Energy Unit.
Britain’s waste system has developed piecemeal over the past 150 years without ever being properly reformed. The waste we throw away contains potentially valuable resources that are now being left unused. We still send more than half of our waste to landfill, with more than 15.5 million tonnes of household waste being buried and left to rot in 2007-08. This runs the risk of fines of up to £366 million due to missing European Union targets as well as loosing out on the value of the resources left untapped in the waste stream
Our waste system achieves poor
results because it is not designed for the challenges we face. On climate
change the drive to recycle more has actually led to more carbon emissions from
some materials. Food and biodegradable waste that if used could reduce carbon
emissions and help deliver energy security by producing nearly 50% of the gas
needed by households is not utilised. Moreover, in an age where people have
less spare time, we now have to deal with the hassle of too many bins and
overly complicated collections.
The latest report from the think
tank Policy Exchange, “A Wasted Opportunity? How to get the most out of
Britain’s bins” sets out how we can improve this situation. Our waste system
can better protect the environment, extract more economic value and reduce the
hassle people experience. It can also cost less to run - the reforms proposed
in our report could cut household waste bills, currently around £100 per
household per year, by up to half.
There are several things we need to do to deliver a radically improved waste system. First, we need to get the collection and disposal structures right. This means creating single-tier waste authorities in England, abolishing crude recycling tonnage targets and integrating commercial and industrial waste from small businesses with municipal waste. These reforms would generate significant savings and deliver economies of scale that would further reduce costs.
Second, we need to improve the
incentives in the system. This can be achieved by reforming the landfill tax,
providing households with information on how much they pay for their waste
services and creating reward schemes to encourage positive behaviour such as
recycling. Reward schemes, such as RecycleBank, have been shown to be much more
effective at changing behaviour than punitive bin taxes.
Third, collections should be made
simpler and more consistent. Councils must be prevented from forcing excessive
numbers of bins on households and there should be standardised and simplified
collection patterns throughout the country. Where possible, we should also
collect food waste separately, so this can be collected weekly and used to produce
sustainable gas which can then be pumped into Britain’s gas network for use
throughout the country.
The historical legacy of waste
services is a hindrance to their future success, making significant reforms
essential. At present our waste system has no positive incentives for
householders and lots of conflicting ones for local government. We have ignored
the potential for food and residual waste as an energy source. Moreover, we
have made waste collection difficult for people when it should be as easy as
possible. Britain can do better and with a change of Government likely to occur
within the next year, there is a unique opportunity to do so.