An increasing amount of waste disposal is a modern problem resulting from consumers' growing prosperity and the demand for packaged products. The quantity of household waste is increasing by 3% a year, which means a doubling of waste over the next 20 years.
Our European neighbours were forced to address this issue some time ago as, unlike this country, they do not have suitable locations for landfill sites – usually for geological reasons. Landfill in the UK represents a much cheaper option – typical waste disposal costs on the Continent can be two or three times higher than those in the UK – so any moves to create more environmental methods of disposal are likely to result in much higher costs to businesses and ratepayers.
Nevertheless, the government is determined to show its commitment to environmental issues. It has pledged to reduce the amount of industrial and commercial waste going to landfill sites by 15% of 1998 levels by 2005.
Household waste has also come under the spotlight, with the government aiming to recycle increasing amounts of household rubbish over the coming years – 25% more by 2005, 30% by 2010 and 33% by 2015.
While these levels of recycling may seem reasonable, it will require a significant change in methods of dealing with waste, which to date have simply involved mass collection and direct disposal to landfill.
It will also require the development of major new facilities centred around urban areas to collect, separate, recover and dispose of materials.
These changes are now starting to become evident. A considerable amount of consolidation is taking place among the waste management companies and new waste treatment facilities are being developed, including waste-to-energy plants and composting sites.
The government is keen to encourage such environmentally-friendly activity and has applied a carrot and stick approach – although it's mostly stick – through the following fiscal and regulatory measures:
The Landfill Tax
Landfill Tax is currently charged at £11/tonne, rising by £1/ tonne each year until 2004 for waste tipped at landfill. This is a significant tax that may increase the cost of waste disposal by 100% in many cases. The aim of the tax is to raise the cost of disposing of waste in landfill sites and to make other, more expensive forms of treatment, such as waste recovery and recycling, more competitive.
The quantity of household waste is increasing by 3% a year, which means a doubling of waste over the next 20 years
Waste and resources action programme
One of the key difficulties in encouraging reuse and recycling is in creating markets for the recovered materials. Without there being a demand for recovered materials, they have no use and simply become a different form of waste.
The government is to set up an initiative called The Waste and Resources Action Programme to encourage support and provide advice on developing markets and end uses for secondary materials. This is a positive move that the waste management industry has been calling for.
Packaging regulations
These regulations establish targets for recovery and recycling of packaging waste. Most businesses that handle packaging waste will have an obligation to recover 52% of waste by 2001 – at least half of which must be recycled.
The regulations are currently under review, with packaging and recycling targets for 2001 to 2006 due to be announced.
Tradable permits
The government has also proposed the introduction of tradable permits for local authorities, aimed at restricting the amount of household waste going to landfill. The permits are to be made available to local authorities, with their allocation based on population or number of households. The permits will limit the amount of waste that local authorities can tip at landfill to achieve the waste reduction targets.
The permits are to be tradable between local authorities, as this will allow market forces to encourage efficient reduction in the volume of waste going to landfill. These are early proposals and still the subject of consultation.
The waste hierarchy
Part of the government's strategy to encourage the movement of waste away from landfill has been to set a waste hierarchy, although the priority is to minimise or reduce the amount of waste being produced in the first place. The hierarchy is set out as follows:
- reduction – this may take the form of a reduction in packaging or less wasteful manufacturing processes
- re-use – a typical example of putting materials or objects back into operation is the reuse of old milk bottles
- recovery – this may be seen in the recovery of scrap metals or cardboard, where waste is recycled or converted into a useable form. Recovery also includes the use of waste as a fuel in generating power and heat. This is the recycling option favoured by the government, although the green lobby opposes it
- composting – green waste is now frequently composted and this provides a practical example of waste recovery
- disposal – the final option in the hierarchy is disposal at landfill. It is generally recognised that the landfilling of some waste is inevitable and that it may, in some cases, be the best environmental solution.
Waste management methods and practices are changing and will undergo a rapid transformation over the next five to ten years. The waste industry is developing new technologies so that it can deal with waste in a more environmentally acceptable manner.
Source
The Facilities Business
