Around 84 per cent of respondents to a Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) survey think there should be guidance on how to determine what is ‘technically, environmentally and economically practicable’ (TEEP) in regards to recycling collections.

According to the UK’s transposition of the EU’s revised Waste Framework Directive (the Waste Regulations (Amendment) 2012), by 2015, every waste collection authority must have in place separate collections for waste paper, metal, plastic and glass ‘where separate collection is technically, environmentally and economically practicable’.

However, the UK government has not released details of what is considered TEEP, and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has said it will not be publishing any guidance on the matter. (However, WRAP has announced that is it working on a ‘routemap’ for local authorities to help assess compliance with the regulations, and sources indicate that Wales will be releasing its own guidance.)

Nonetheless, in CIWM’s ‘Great Waste & Resources Survey’ – which seeks to ‘gauge the biggest influences and opinions of the industry over the previous twelve months and going forward’ – 432 of the 525 mainly England-based respondents (84 per cent) said they thought that there needed to be guidance published on determining TEEP.

Calls for increased Landfill Tax

As well as greater clarification on TEEP, over a third (36 per cent) of respondents stated that they thought Landfill Tax should not only continue beyond this year (there has been no word from central government yet on whether the escalating tax will continue after 2014/15), but should also ‘go beyond £100 per tonne’.

This mimics calls made by manufacturers earlier this year that Landfill Tax should reach £200 by 2020 to ‘drive recyclable waste from landfill’.

In terms of managing waste, around a third of respondents (34 per cent) said they were not in favour of three-weekly or monthly collections of residual waste (such as those proposed by Falkirk Council), closely followed in opposition by 30 per cent of respondents, who said they were in favour ‘but only if there is also a weekly collection for all “smelly” waste (food, nappies, etc)’.

However, despite the disagreement over Falkirk’s waste management system, 42 per cent of people said that Scotland was ‘the most forward-looking [of the UK and Republic of Ireland governments] in terms of waste and resources policy’. Wales came in second with 25 per cent, followed by England (nine per cent), the Republic of Ireland (two per cent) and Northern Ireland (one per cent). (Six per cent of people said that none were, while 16 per cent said they ‘didn’t know’.)

Other findings from the survey include:

• 51 per cent of respondents thought that there are not enough waste management facilities being built in the UK, but ‘we’re getting there’ (with 61 per cent citing a lack of investment as the main barrier);
• 35 per cent of individuals said that the waste prevention programme for UK governments would likely have an effect in the next five years;
• 10 per cent of businesses said it was ‘unlikely’ their business would incorporate the concept of the circular economy in their ‘day-to-day approach to waste and resource management’;
• 42 per cent said that ‘a lack of data on waste arisings and movements’ is a ‘big problem’ for the waste industry (although just one per cent more thought it was just a ‘problem to some extent’); and
• Over half (52 per cent) believe that local waste and recycling services will be withdrawn ‘to some extent’ in 2014 due to ‘cost saving reasons’.

Real bug bear at the minute is confidence

Speaking of the findings, Steve Lee, Chief Executive Officer of CIWM, told Resource: “Landfill Tax has been a very effective mechanism and this is reflected in the views expressed by many in the survey that it should continue to rise. The extent and regularity of any future rises is a matter of considerable debate, however, with calls for future increases to be linked to inflation. CIWM believes that it is now essential that the government puts forward a medium- to long-term plan for the tax to give operators and investors greater certainty on which to base future business plans and funding decisions. Better data and forecasting will also be essential to deliver the necessary future infrastructure.

“With regard to collections and TEEP, there are some challenging tensions coming to the surface here. Taking a very pragmatic view, as local authorities work to remove more recyclable materials from our waste stream, most notably food waste, it is perfectly logical that the frequency of residual waste collection may change."

Touching on TEEP guidance in a video on CIWM's website, Lee added: “We’ve been saying for at least a couple of years that there needs to be consistent TEEP guidance and it needs to be given the best possible stamp of approval. We can see that local authorities and their contactors need to be able to demonstrate that they have been through a rigorous process that can get to a defensible solution. The routemap will be helpful… it will help local government in making and defending their decision, it will help the contractors and other people who wok with them, and we will support it in every way that we can, including raising awareness.”

Read CIWM’s ‘Great Waste & Resources Survey’.