Written - Landfill Bans and the definition of municipal waste

Landfill Bans / Restrictions

The Welsh Assembly Government is investigating the benefits and practicalities of banning or restricting certain wastes from landfill in accordance with the objectives and policies proposed in the new draft waste strategy for Wales, Towards Zero Waste, that was published for consultation for the period from 29 April to 22 July 2009.

In 2007, Wales produced 5.1 million tonnes of household, commercial and industrial waste.  44% of this was reused, recycled or recovered, but 47% was still landfilled. This compares poorly with other European States, many of whom have used landfill bans to divert wastes from landfill.

Landfilling is a poor environmental option and has an extremely negative effect on climate change as the breakdown of biodegradable waste releases methane which is a harmful greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Based on information published in 2003 and 2007 respectively, approximately 61% of both municipal waste and 61% of industrial and commercial waste that is landfilled is biodegradable.

Disposing of waste in landfill is the least sustainable way of managing waste and the least favourable option under the waste hierarchy. Much waste currently landfilled is a valuable resource, either as a recyclate or for high efficiency energy generation (which is the Welsh Assembly Government’s preferred treatment for residual waste).  Many products landfilled have a high embedded energy, and in many cases a considerable amount of raw materials were wasted during the production of the product.  Thus there is an even greater hidden waste of resources associated with landfilling, not just the immediate waste of the resource that is landfilled.

The Welsh Assembly Government has proposed ambitious targets for recycling and composting/ anaerobic digestion in its new draft Waste Strategy (Towards Zero Waste). Landfill bans of specific wastes are an important tool that could be used to achieve those targets.

Key materials that are being considered with regard to landfill bans include food, green, paper and card, textiles, wood, glass, metals, plastics, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and biodegradable waste from all sectors where these wastes are produced.

The Welsh Assembly Government will be consulting publicly on landfill bans / restrictions in 2010. 

Definition of municipal waste

The approach the UK is taking to calculating the EU Landfill Directive targets to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill is changing.

Over the last year Defra have been in discussions with the European Commission; there has been consultation with Welsh Assembly Government throughout this process.  It is now recognised that the UK’s existing approach is focused too narrowly on waste collected by local authorities.   The new approach will include much more commercial waste than currently. This is consistent with the increased focus we want to place on commercial and industrial waste; and to bring greater convergence between the management of household and commercial waste so that the environmental impacts of waste are addressed regardless of its source.  In the past recycling levels for commercial waste have been higher than household waste, but now thanks to Assembly Government targets and funding support, the levels of household waste recycling achieved by local authorities in Wales have increased substantially over the last seven years and are now on a par with those of commercial waste.

The new approach to municipal waste in the UK is based on the EU list of wastes or ‘European Waste Catalogue’.  It will include all biodegradable waste landfilled that is coded under Chapter 20 – which is entitled “Municipal Waste (household waste and similar commercial, industrial and institutional wastes whether collected by Local Authorities or private contractors)”. It will also include some waste coded under Chapter 19 which covers waste landfilled that has been through some form of treatment process and which originated as a Chapter 20 type waste(for example material that has been through an MBT plant that ends up in landfill).

In practice this will mean that the amount of waste counted as municipal waste will increase significantly. It will not mean that any additional waste is sent to landfill and is simply a change in the way the information is recorded. But changing the way municipal waste is counted will mean amending the baseline on which the landfill diversion targets were set, and thus the 2010/2013/2020 targets for the UK.  Defra’s provisional analysis is that the UK’s position relative to meeting the landfill targets will be similar to the previous approach, and we are confident of meeting the first target year in 2010.

In making this change we want to ensure that local authorities are not disadvantaged. They will not be obligated to manage this additional waste, and we have no plans to change the coverage of the Landfill Allowance Schemes or to change their existing allowances. They have made great strides in reducing the amount of waste they send to landfill and their efforts should be recognised.

Making this change is an opportunity to review the range of policies in place to divert waste from landfill.  This includes considering the role that the Landfill Allowance Schemes have to play, planned increases in the landfill tax, and potentially additional restrictions or bans at landfill. This will be to ensure that we not only meet our Landfill Directive targets but are also reflecting our wider environmental goals, including meeting carbon budgets and meeting the Assembly Government’s One Wales, One Planet goals, as we work towards a zero waste nation.

We intend to consult on the implications of the change, including the impact on the Landfill Allowance Schemes, early in the new year. The intention is to link this to the consultation on landfill bans.