Recycling targets are 'unambitious', say MPs

They claim progress to meet its goals to diminish the country's waste mountain is "depressingly slow".

Targets set for 2015 and 2020 in particular will be missed by "a wide margin", they say.

In its fifth report, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee claims "inadequate funding and a lack of clear government guidance" has made it harder for local authorities to meet their targets.

There is a widening gap between the government's targets to improve the ways in which we dispose of the waste we produce and what is actually happening in practice John Horam

"We are extremely concerned that the measures taken to date do not reflect the urgency of the need for improvement," the MPs say.

The report, "Waste - An Audit", looks at progress towards targets set in the government's Waste Strategy, published in 2000, which include national targets for recycling and composting household waste.

'Too timid'

It claims the strategy "has still not proved effective in delivery".

John Horam, the committee's Tory chairman, said: "There is a widening gap between the government's targets to improve the ways in which we dispose of the waste we produce and what is actually happening in practice.

"Progress since the waste strategy has been depressingly slow. The targets are too timid and too exclusively focused on the household waste stream, but even so, we are not on course to meet them.

Danger waste strategy becomes 'charter for incineration'

"There is a danger that the waste strategy becomes a charter for incineration. The government must clarify its position on this issue urgently."

In their report, the cross-party group of MPs stress that the overall amount of waste sent to landfill is increasing from 21.9m tonnes in 1999-00 to 22.1m tonnes in 2000-01.

"At this rate of progress, there is little chance of reaching the 25% recycling and composting target by 2005 contained in the Waste Strategy," they say.

Moratorium call

They argue that the targets are "unambitious" by European standards, but pose a "significant challenge" for local authorities "by demanding rapid improvement on traditionally low recycling rates".

"Projections based on the current rates of performance improvements indicate that we will not come close to meeting any of the national targets set for recycling or recovery," they say.

"Under the current set of policies, the targets set for 2015 and 2020 in particular will be missed by a wide margin."

The MPs urge the government to increase the rate of landfill tax, currently �14 per tonne, "more steeply", accusing the Treasury of remaining "timid" in its use of fiscal instruments to tackle environmental issues.

There should be a moratorium on permissions for all large-scale municipal incinerators until the government has completed a review of environmental and health impacts of all waste management and disposal options, the MPs say.

'Cumbersome' planning system

They raise concern that the government saw the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme - which gives some companies exemption for financing local waste-related projects - as "a means of financing its own policies for which it would otherwise have had to find additional funding".

The MPs say no major initiatives or mechanisms to drive progress on its 2001 Waste Summit have yet resulted.

A Defra spokesman said the government was determined to meet its "demanding" waste targets.

Funding to help local councils deal with waste had been "significantly increased", he said.

The spokesman pointed to a number of key schemes tackling waste and boosting recycling.

"The government is now building on these successes," he said. "The chancellor announced the government's new sustainable waste delivery programme in last month's Budget statement.

"The programme is designed to provide a step change in sustainable waste performance."