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Well disposed: Responding to the waste challenge

http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/Products/NATIONAL-REPORT/C0CDCBFE-24E0-494d-824D-F053A576661E/WellDisposed25Sep08REP.pdf

 

The Audit Commission has published a report which looks at how English councils are responding to the challenge of finding new ways to dispose of the country's waste, which has traditionally been buried in landfill sites. It reviews progress against meeting targets and allowances, models the costs to councils under different scenarios, and evaluates the quality of strategic planning and local decision-making. While congratulating people and councils for their ongoing efforts to recycle and reduce the amount of waste produced in the first place, the Commission warns councils that they cannot rely solely on creating less waste and recycling more if the European Union Landfill Directive targets for 2013 to reduce the amount of waste that gets dumped in landfill is to be achieved. It argues that investment in waste disposal technologies that convert waste into energy or fuel will have the most significant impact on landfill reduction and that delays to the projects currently underway pose the greatest threat to achieving the target.

news | 14-04 | local governance | UK government | waste and water