MPs denounce new pay-as-you-throw plans as a rubbish whitewash

The Communities and Local Government (CLG) committee of MPs has denounced Government pay-as-you-throw plans as a “messy compromise” made as a result of widespread media opposition.

A new CLG report encourages government ministers to reconsider their initial plan of devolving powers for waste collection to local authorities rather than running a pay-as-you-throw pilot scheme.

In May last year, the Government published the Waste Strategy for England, under which councils would have been allowed to charge residents based on the amount of rubbish they threw away. The plans were then scrapped in October after media opposition, and five pilot schemes were announced as part of the Climate Change Bill in November.

CLG committee members have criticised the pilot scheme’s lack of ambition, and contend that the pilots will fail to provide sufficient evidence to judge whether pay-as-you-throw should be a nationwide policy.

The pilots were also criticised for being too little too late. They wouldn’t start until April 2009, which according to the CLG committee, will me much too late to offer any help to local authorities trying to meet EU landfill targets before penalties are enforced.

Dr. Phyllis Starkey, chair of the CLG committee, said: “In our earlier report we criticised Government for making a half-hearted tilt in the direction of charging householders directly for the collection of their rubbish.

“It has since, in the face of highly negative media coverage, mounted a wholehearted retreat.”

Steve Lee, chief executive of the Charter Institution of Waste Management, agrees with the committee’s conclusion.

He said: “What we have now is an awkward compromise and another four years before any further decisions can be taken.

“However, we have been debating this issue for long enough. It is time to do the work that should have been done at the outset and find out whether financial incentives can work for councils and residents.”