Waste management firm FCC Environment has expressed disappointment that measures to incentivise reuse did not feature in the government’s Budget announcement.
Responding to today’s proposals Paul Taylor, FCC’s chief executive, said: “The Chancellor’s commitment to tackling both waste crime and plastic pollution are welcome moves, and represent an important step forward in the debate over waste policy.
‘Disappointing’
“If we are to make the UK one of the most resource productive countries in the world, we would have liked to see more ambitious policy announcements.”
Paul Taylor
FCC
However, Mr Taylor added: “If we are to make the UK one of the most resource productive countries in the world, we would have liked to see more ambitious policy announcements. It is disappointing, for example, that we did not see reference to incentivising re-use, which would underline our push towards UK self-sufficiency.”
Mr Taylor said that embedding a ‘reuse culture’ within communities is “absolutely essential” to encourage behavioural change in relation to waste.
In his Budget announcement today, chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed plans to investigate how the tax system and charges on single-use plastic items can reduce waste.
And, HM Treasury confirmed the government will launch “a call for evidence in early 2018 on how the tax system or charges could help to reduce the amount of single-use plastic waste”.
Infrastructure
As well as looking for government to make an announcement on incentivising reuse, FCC’s Mr Taylor said the company would like to have seen a commitment to invest in the UK’s domestic waste infrastructure.
“Currently, UK waste management companies are paying to export waste out of our country which other countries utilise as fuel, powering local homes and businesses. This is simply not a sustainable model,” Mr Taylor warned.
“Boosting the UK’s infrastructure will not only mean that we can manage our waste more efficiently, but also better safeguard the UK’s long-term energy security.”
Earlier this year letsrecycle.com reported that England exported about 1.69 million tonnes of RDF in the first six months of 2017, increasing from 1.67 million over the same time period in 2016. (see letsrecycle.com story).
FCC Environment’s plant at Greatmoor, Buckinghamshire is one of a new set of energy from waste plants in the UK
However, latest trends in RDF exports signal a continuation of an overall leveling out in volumes dispatched from England. RDF exports have been expected to level as incinerators in Europe begin to reach capacity and more opportunities start to evolve in the domestic energy from waste market.
Some companies in the waste management sector, including Suez and Biffa, as well as the Environmental Services Association, have suggested the UK will face a shortfall in waste treatment capacity in the coming years (see letsrecycle.com story).
Brexit
In terms of UK infrastructure, FCC’s chief executive said, to date, the waste and resource sector’s ability to contribute to UK growth has not been “sufficiently recognised”.
Mr Taylor continued: “Following Brexit, we would like to work with Government to help make the UK economy fit for the future – part of which must involve defining our own approach to waste and resource policy, away from EU environmental diktats which could cost UK businesses an additional £2bn over the next 20 years.”
The post FCC disappointed over lack of reuse support in Budget appeared first on letsrecycle.com.
Source: letsrecycle.com Plastic
