Waste Recycling Report Footnote 003, 041

Annex C1: Municipal waste

Definitions and rationale

1. Municipal waste includes household waste and any other wastes collected by waste collection authorities (or their agents) such as municipal parks and gardens waste, beach cleansing waste, commercial or industrial waste and waste resulting from the clearance of fly-tipped materials.
2. Defra is addressing the task of reducing the amount of municipal waste being sent to landfill through measures to minimise waste generation, encourage re-use and support local authorities in increasing recycling, as well as improving treatment of the residual waste.
3. What is sought is a move towards lower levels of waste generated. Of the waste that is generated, as much as possible should be re-used or recycled, with higher levels of recycling and composting in an economically and environmentally efficient way. Improved treatment of the residual waste is then sought as this offers the opportunity to extract value from (and reduce the environmental impact of) an otherwise wasted resource stream. Landfill, at the bottom of the waste hierarchy, is the least desirable option. Landfilling is a waste of resources and biodegradable waste in landfill generates 40% of methane emissions.

Arisings, trends and projections

4. In 2005/06, local authorities collected an estimated 28.7 million tonnes of municipal waste[1] in England.[2] Around 89% of this municipal waste came from households, a total of 25.5 million tonnes, which equates to around 505kg of household waste per person per annum. The average annual increase in municipal waste from 2000/01 to 2005/06 was 0.5%. This is lower than the 3.3% average annual increase in municipal waste arisings between 1996/97 and 2001/02. Chart C1.1 below shows the sources of municipal waste.[3]

Chart C1.1: Sources of municipal waste arisings, England (2005/06)

Non-household Non-household recycling

sources 3% (excl. recycling)

8%

Household

recycling Regular household 24% collection

51%

Civic amenity

sites

9%

Other household sources

5%

Source: WasteDataFlow

Chart C1.2: Household waste composition, England (2000/01)

Metal Disposable

cans/foil nappies

PlasticTextiles3% 2%

film 3% Garden waste Soil 3% 20%

3%

Dense plastic 4%

Scrap metal/ white goods 5%

Wood/ furniture 5%

Paper and board Glass 18%

7%

General

household

sweepings

9% Kitchen waste

17%

Source: Dr Julian Parfitt, WRAP

5. Compositional analysis[1] of waste from households suggests that over half consists of garden and kitchen waste and waste paper and card.
6. The proportion of municipal waste produced which is sent to landfill has continued to decline to 62% in 2005/06 and for four years in a row the actual tonnage of waste being disposed of at landfill has decreased to an estimated 17.8 million tonnes.
7. To comply with the requirements of Article 5.2 of the of the European Landfill Directive, by 2009/10 England must landfill no more than 11.2 million tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW), 7.5 million tonnes in 2012/13 and 5.2 million tonnes in 2019/20.
8. The  Environment  Agency  has  reported  that  English  waste  disposal  authorities  landfilled

12.4 million tonnes of BMW in 2005/06. This is estimated to be 1.5 million tonnes less than the previous year. England is making good progress towards meetings its first Landfill Directive target of

11.2 million tonnes BMW to landfill in 2009/10.

9. Chart C1.3 below shows England's performance on landfilling BMW between 2001/02 and 2005/06 and future limits on the amount of BMW that can be sent to landfill during the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme years and the EU Landfill Directive target years.

Chart C1.3: Landfilling biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) – Landfill Allowances

Trading Scheme allocations, England (2001/02–2020)

18,000 16,000 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0

LATS allocation Estimated BMW to Landfill Landfill directive target

Source: 2001/02 is the baseline estimation.

2002/03 to 2004/05 are Defra estimates based on local authority returns to the Municipal Waste Management Survey. 2005/06 is the out-turn figure calculated by the Environment Agency.

10. The proportion of municipal waste being recycled or composted increased to 27.1% in 2005/06. The proportion of waste incinerated with energy recovery increased slightly to around 10%.
11. There has also been a major increase in recycling and composting of household waste with 11.2% recycled/composted in 2001/02, 17.8% in 2003/04, 22.5% in 2004/05 and 26.7% in 2005/06 (see Chart C1.4 below). Performance on recycling and composting of household waste exceeded the national targets of 17% and 25% for 2003/04 and 2005/06 respectively. The highest performing authorities are now recycling more than half of the household waste that they collect in their area.[2]

Chart C1.4: Household recycling, England (1996/97 – 2005/06)

30 25 20 15 10 5 0

/97 /98 99 /00 /01 02 03 04 05 06 1996 1997 1998/ 1999 2000 2001/ 2002/ 2003/ 2004/ 2005/

Dry recycling Food and garden waste recycling Source: Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey and WasteDataFlow

Management routes

12. Municipal waste is collected by local authorities[3] through regular waste collection and the provision of bring sites such as bottle, paper and can banks and civic amenity sites. Municipal waste also includes other waste streams such as litter and street sweepings, bulky household wastes and fly- tipped materials. While authorities are under a statutory duty to collect household waste[4] they are only obliged to collect (or make arrangements for the collection of) commercial and industrial wastes from the private sector on request.[5]
13. The third sector[6] plays an important role in running re-use, recycling and composting operations. Local authorities are encouraged to consider paying collection credits to third parties who collect household waste for recycling or re-use. In 2005/06, local authorities reported 64,000 tonnes of waste collected for recycling or re-use by voluntary or charity sectors.[7] Around one quarter of this was textiles and footwear.

14. Local authorities responsible for disposal[8] must also provide sites (often called civic amenity sites or household waste recycling centres) where householders may deposit residual waste and recyclable materials free of charge for recycling, composting and residual disposal. They may also provide sites for deposit of other waste, e.g. commercial wastes, and may charge for this service.
15. About nine out of ten households are now served by co-mingled'[9] or source separated' kerbside recycling collection schemes. In 2005/06, 56% of household waste recycled was collected through such schemes. Mixed dry recyclables are separated[10] and baled at materials recycling/recovery facilities (MRFs)[11] and sent to reprocessors such as paper mills, glass works or plastic reprocessing plants where the waste is processed for use in new products. Segregated recyclable materials are bulked and sent to reprocessors.
16. Authorities also collect some segregated recyclable material from bring banks/recycling collection points and civic amenity sites, and again send to reprocessors either directly or from a bulking station. In 2005/06, 43% of the household waste recycled was collected through this route.

Chart C1.5: Composition of household waste sent for recycling,

composting and re-use, England (2005/06)

Other

8%

Paper and card Co-mingled 22%

13%

Plastics 1%

Cans 1%

Textiles 1%

Scrap metals and Glass white goods 11%

8%

Compost Source: WasteDataFlow 35%

17. Some materials such as aluminium and glass can be recycled indefinitely, as the process does not affect their structure. Other materials, such as paper, are degraded during reprocessing and require a quantity of primary virgin material in addition to recycled waste to manufacture a similar quality product. With material such as plastic, the different polymers are first separated out and then converted into granulates or pellets which are then used in the manufacture of recycled or part- recycled plastic products.
18. Home composting can play a part in helping to reduce the amount of BMW which authorities collect. Increasing amounts of compostable material are being composted by householders using home composting bins. The proportion of households undertaking home composting in England has increased from 27% of households with gardens in 1997 to 35% in 2005.[12] So too has the proportion of households composting both kitchen and garden waste: now done by 24% of those with gardens, an increase from 14% in 1997,[13] and this trend looks set to continue over the next decade.
19. In 2005/06 2.4 million tonnes of green waste from households (9.6% of total household waste) was sent for centralised composting. Most compostable material is composted at home and does not enter the local authority collection chain.
20. Of the quantities of compostable material currently collected separately from householders, most is collected from kerbside or at civic amenity sites and can be:

• composted – the most common composting process is windrow composting where garden waste is shredded and piled in elongated rows (called windrows) and aerated through either turning of the windrows or by air forced through the material. The other main technique is in- vessel composting which can treat kitchen as well as garden waste in an enclosed vessel or tunnel to meet the requirements of the Animal By-Products Regulations. The composts, mulches or soil conditioners that are produced by the various composting operations are often sold for a variety of applications from horticultural to agricultural usage; or

• converted into a digestate and biogas through anaerobic digestion – this involves placing organic material into an enclosed vessel under controlled conditions which is then decomposed by bacteria in the absence of air. The resulting digestate can be used as a biofertiliser or further treated to be used as soil conditioner. The digestion process produces biogas (mostly carbon dioxide and methane) which can be sold as fuel or burned to generate electricity and/or heat. The sale of this electricity is eligible for Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs).

21. The market for the sale of some recyclables can fluctuate considerably. In order to develop and maintain support for recyclates it is essential to have secure markets for materials generated through a recycling strategy. As more material comes onto the market it is likely that quality issues and the capacity of the market to accept these additional materials will become increasingly important to sustaining local waste strategies.[14]

22. Post-recycling residual waste can be subjected to pre-treatment through a variety of mechanical biological treatments (MBT) – in its simplest form MBT provides a drying and bulk reduction operation prior to landfill. However, other MBT systems are designed to treat and separate out materials (such as metals and glass) from residual waste for recycling,[15] to produce a combustible fraction (sometimes known as refuse derived fuel or solid recovered fuel) for energy recovery, and an organic rich fraction (derived from, for example, food and garden waste and paper/card), which may have a use as landfill cover  or  for  land  restoration.  Combustible  fractions  can  also  be  put  through  advanced  thermal treatments such as pyrolysis or gasification to recover energy.
23. Other residual waste is sent for energy recovery (in 2005/06, 10% of municipal waste was sent for energy recovery), or disposed of to landfill (in 2005/06, 62% of municipal waste was sent to landfill). Electricity generated from the biomass content of mixed waste in gasification, pyrolysis and combined heat and power (CHP) plant, as well as from landfill gas, is eligible for support under the Renewables Obligation.

Policies and targets

24. The main strategy set out the range of policies that will deliver the outcomes we seek across the municipal sector.
25. The UK is bound by the European Landfill Directive (99/31/EC) which sets mandatory targets for the reduction of BMW sent to landfill. The UK national targets are:

• by 2010 to reduce BMW landfilled to 75% of that produced in 1995;

• by 2013 to reduce BMW landfilled to 50% of that produced in 1995; and

• by 2020 to reduce BMW landfilled to 35% of that produced in 1995.

26. Under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS – see Box C1.1 below) authorities responsible for waste disposal have been allocated decreasing allowances for the maximum amount of BMW they can landfill each year until 2020. The total amount of allowances available in England is limited to ensure that no more BMW can be landfilled than allowed as England's share of targets under Article

5.2 of the European Landfill Directive.

Box C1.1: Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS)

LATS was implemented in April 2005. It is one of the Government's key measures to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) going to landfill in accordance with the targets set out in Article 5.2 of the European Landfill Directive.

The scheme will see progressive reductions in the total amount of BMW – such as paper, food and garden waste – that disposal authorities can landfill.

The Government has allocated local authorities across England allowances to landfill BMW for each year of the scheme, upto 2020. These landfill allowances' are tradable (i.e. they can be transferred between local authorities). Authorities can buy more allowances if they expect to landfill more than is permitted by the number of allowances they hold in any scheme year. Authorities with low landfill rates can sell their surplus allowances. Waste disposal authorities can also save unused allowances (banking) or bring forward part of their future allocation (borrowing), depending on the scheme year.

Through the flexibilities of trading, banking and borrowing, authorities can develop the most cost- effective strategy for meeting their waste targets, tailored to their specific circumstances.

Disposal authorities that exceed the limit set by the allowances they hold will be fined £150 for every tonne they are over the limit.

All 121 waste disposal authorities were within limits for the scheme year 2005/06 and none are liable to penalties for exceeding limits in 2005/06.

Ten waste disposal authorities met their obligations by buying additional allowances from other waste disposal authorities or borrowing their own allowances from future scheme years.[16]

As of 27 April 2007 there have been a total of 56 transfers of allowances from one local authority to another. 906,468 allowances have been transferred. There have been 32 transfers of 2005/06 vintage allowances (i.e. allowances allocated for scheme year 2005/06), 15 transfers of 2006/07 vintage allowances, 5 transfers of 2007/08 vintage allowances, 3 transfers of 2008/09 vintage allowances, and 1 transfer of 2012/13 vintage allowances.

27. Currently, under LATS local authorities cannot claim the full benefit for BMW diverted through home composting schemes in the same way that they do for separate collections of garden or kitchen waste for centralised composting. As part of the 2007 operational review of LATS Defra will explore whether a robust and auditable reporting system can be developed which will fully account for the contribution of local authority supported home composting schemes to diversion of BMW from landfill.
28. The landfill tax increases the price of waste sent to landfill, encouraging diversion of waste from landfill to more sustainable ways of managing waste. The standard rate of landfill tax applying to active wastes, currently £21 per tonne, has been increased by £3 per tonne in each of the past two years as part of the Government's aim (announced in 2002) of reaching a rate of £35 per tonne.

29. In the Pre Budget Report the Government announced that from 1 April 2007 the standard rate of landfill tax will increase by a further £3 per tonne to £24 per tonne. In the Budget 2007, the Government announced that from 1 April 2008, and until at least 2010-11, the standard rate of landfill tax will increase by £8 per tonne each year. The lower rate applying to inactive waste will also increase from £2 to £2.50 per tonne from 1 April 2008.
30. To help meet these requirements the Government has established national targets for recovery of municipal waste and recycling/composting of household waste Table C1.1 below shows the national recycling and recovery targets that have been set for household and municipal waste in England.

Table C1.1: Recycling and recovery targets for household and municipal waste, England (2005 baseline and targets for 2010, 2015 and 2020)

31. The Government is consulting on removing the ban on local authorities introducing household financial incentives for waste reduction and recycling. The consultation document, and accompanying partial Regulatory Impact Assessment, were published on 24 May 2007.
32. The  Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 places a duty on local authorities to provide kerbside collection for at least two recyclates by 2010.[17]
33. Since 1 April 2000, local authority waste collection services have been subject to the Best Value duty which seeks to deliver continuous improvements in service provision. Under the  Best Value framework, a number of indicators were set for waste management. Local authorities are required to set themselves targets for each indicator.
34. In April 2007 we set performance standards on recycling and composting for all local authorities for the year 2007/08, setting a minimum performance standard of 20% across the country. These will be the final set of Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) for waste. The Government is developing new arrangements for local authority performance framework standards which will include waste performance indicators.

35. The Government is currently developing options for the local authority waste performance indicators which will make up part of the new performance framework. These indicators will monitor local authorities contribution to an overall waste outcome that leads towards more sustainable management of waste in England. The indicators are likely to focus on decreasing the amounts of municipal waste produced and landfilled and increasing the amounts of municipal waste recycled (see WS2007, Chapter 6).
36. The Government is also considering developing a greenhouse gas emissions performance indicator for local authority performance on waste that measures greenhouse gas impacts of their waste management services. This could, for example, reflect total greenhouse gas emissions from a local authority's waste management activity, or could be focused on greenhouse gas impacts of specific activities, such as waste minimisation. Defra will consider commissioning research as part of its waste research programme to develop a methodology for a local authority waste performance greenhouse gas indicator.

Promoting joint working

37. The split of waste functions between waste collection and waste disposal authorities can inhibit efficient and effective delivery of waste management goals, notably achievement of the European Landfill Directive targets. The Government is tackling this by strongly encouraging partnership working between counties and districts and is exploring ways to remove barriers to joint working. Furthermore, some waste disposal authorities will need to work in partnership with their neighbours in order to procure waste treatment facilities. On 22 January 2007, the Government announced that it would introduce new powers through the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill to allow the creation of Joint Waste Authorities (JWAs). This measure aims to help those authorities that wish to put joint working on waste on a statutory footing. Groups of authorities will be able to voluntarily request creation of a JWA in order to enable stronger partnership working on waste.
38. Changes, aimed at promoting joint working, were made to the Recycling Credits Scheme in April 2006. There was evidence that the original design of the scheme could inhibit effective and sustainable waste management and that the calculation to determine the value of the credit was unsustainable. The changes have increased the flexibility of payments from waste disposal to waste collection authorities in two-tier areas by giving authorities the option to agree alternative arrangements, altered the calculation of the recycling credit and clarified that recycling credits can be paid for re-use activity. The Government has also introduced updated guidance[18] on the scheme, which includes encouraging local authorities to consider applications for credits from third parties and to take account of social and economic benefits associated with community recycling and re-use.
39. The Government believes that authorities in two-tier areas should be able to work together towards mutually advantageous common goals, and strongly encourages all authorities to produce a joint strategy for the management of their municipal waste.

40. The provisions on joint municipal waste management strategies in section 32 of the Waste and Emissions Trading (WET) Act require authorities in two-tier areas, subject to specific exemptions, to:

• have in place a joint strategy for their municipal waste;

• review and keep any strategy up to date; and

• send a statement of the joint strategy to the Secretary of State and the Environment Agency

– this statement should also be publicised in the authorities' areas and be available free of charge for inspection by the public – authorities in Greater London should also send their statement of strategy to the Mayor of London.

41. Under provisions inserted in section 48(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 by section 31(3) of the Waste and Emissions Trading (WET) Act (2003), a waste disposal authority is able to issue a direction to a waste collection authority to deliver waste in a state of separation, where such a direction is considered necessary for the waste disposal authority to meet its own statutory obligations, including but not limited to those under LATS. This direction could also include requirements regarding the quality of separated materials.

Implementation and timescales

Waste performance indicators

42. Any waste performance indicators included in the new performance framework will be agreed as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 process. All indicators are expected to be agreed and published in 2007. The Government will continue to engage with local government partners on the new waste indicators during spring and summer 2007.

The Waste Implementation Programme and Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme

43. The Waste Implementation Programme (WIP) has provided support to local authorities since June 2003 to help them to more effectively meet the difficult challenges presented by the targets set by the European Landfill Directive in respect of BMW. It delivers this support through a number of workstreams.[19]
44. Under the new strategy WIP will continue to provide support to local authorities. However, in addition to encouraging greater waste minimisation and higher levels of recycling, WIP will place more emphasis on tackling residual waste.
45. To help local authorities divert residual waste, WIP has established the Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme (WIDP). This new programme brings together staff from 4ps,[20] Partnerships UK,[21] and WIP. WIDP's primary aim is to offer local authorities a comprehensive suite of support mechanisms which will help them make the right decisions for themselves in a local context, thereby accelerating infrastructure delivery. Support will be wide ranging but will particularly focus on areas such as technology choice, funding, planning and procurement. WIDP will help authorities to deliver their chosen solutions in the most efficient manner, delivering value-for-money projects within budget and timescales without compromising efforts to minimise waste and support increasing recycling levels. It will monitor the dealflow of waste management infrastructure projects to the market. WIDP also has

a role in raising awareness of the merits of refuse derived fuel (RDF) as an energy source among industrial intensive energy users and promoting public discussion around waste management issues.

46. WIP will continue to engage WRAP to promote delivery of the aims of the top end of the waste hierarchy (prevention, re-use and recycling), through WRAPs delivery programmes.
47. WIP's New Technologies Programme will continue to focus on providing support and advice to local authorities thinking about waste solutions for landfill diversion including technologies that are new to the UK. The £30 million Demonstrator Programme is establishing a series of pilot plants and research to test their viability with English processes and waste. This is designed to help overcome possible risks in introducing these new technologies to England.
48. To address local authority concerns about the planning process affecting value for money and procurement timescales for waste management projects, Defra is working with CLG to produce guidance on how those promoting the development of waste infrastructure can best engage with the planning system and secure appropriate approvals.
49. Given the size of the task (see Infrastructure and Capacity needs' below) the delivery timetable for WIDP is very demanding. The landfill diversion targets become progressively more challenging over time and delays in taking WIDP forward will clearly make them more difficult to achieve. There is a real need for urgency. However, this should not, and will not, be the sole determinant of action. Any decision to build waste management infrastructure resulting from WIDP involvement will be based on sound evidence and risk assessments and will be taken at a local authority level.

Infrastructure and capacity needs

50. The  Office  of  Government  Commerce  (OGC)  published  the  Second  Kelly  Market  –  Waste Management Report' in May 2006. The report identified the need for:

• a coordinated picture of local authority waste procurement plans;

• adoption of appropriate funding and procurement models;

• improved communication of policy; and

• closer alignment of municipal waste with commercial and industrial waste streams and hands- on' support for local authority procurements.

51. In the light of the European Landfill Directive requirements, the findings provide compelling evidence to support long-held concerns about the need to encourage new entrants into this market to build urgently needed capacity. The WIDP programme seeks to address this by:

• identifying the gap between existing residual waste management capacity and that needed to meet the European Landfill Directive targets; and

• monitoring progression towards meeting these targets. Where possible, additional capacity will be encouraged to address some of the wider issues relating to commercial and industrial waste.

52. It is anticipated that around 110–120 new operational plants could be required to deal with England's residual waste and that these would cost in the region of £10 billion to deliver (see Appendix 1 of Annex A).

[22]Roles and responsibilities

Table C1.2: Roles and responsibilities

References and other information

Landfill policy

The Landfill Regulations www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/topics/landfill-dir/

Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/lats/index.htm

The Landfill Tax www.hmce.gov.uk/businesses/

Waste Technology Data Centre www.environment-agency.gov.uk/wtd

WasteDataFlow www.wastedataflow.org/

Local authority waste performance, funding, governance and planning

Defra's information on local authority waste performance www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/perform_manage/index.htm

Best Value Performance Indicators www.audit-commission.gov.uk/performance/

The Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/legislation/hwra

Defra's municipal waste national statistics www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/wastats/index.htm

Defra's local authority funding www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/funding/index.htm

Defra's Waste Implementation Programme www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/wip/index.htm

WRAP, ROTATE and the Organics programme www.wrap.org.uk/

Defra's Partnership Working guidance www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/partnerwork/index.htm

Recycling credits guidance www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/partnerwork/ics.htm

New technologies www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/wip/newtech/index.htm

Renewables obligation www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sources/renewables/policy

Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant www.defra.gov.uk/Environment/waste/localauth/funding/index.htm

Waste Private Finance Initiative www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/funding/pfi/index.htm

Waste Information Network (WIN) www.win.org.uk/

Waste awareness campaigns

Encams www.encams.org/home

recyclenow www.recyclenow.com/

recycle-more.co.uk www.recycle-more.co.uk/

The Recycling Consortium www.recyclingconsortium.org.uk

Waste Watch www.wastewatch.org.uk/

Textile Recycling Association www.textile-recycling.org.uk/

Partnership working

Innovation Forum report on joint working in waste www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk

Third sector re-use and recycling

Community Composting Network www.communitycompost.org

Community Recycling Network www.crn.org.uk

Furniture Reuse Network www.frn.org.uk

Community Repaint Network www.communityrepaint.org.uk