By Paul Dicken
03 September 2009
Welsh councils look set to avoid European Union financial penalties for sending waste to landfill after achieving their targets a year early, according to the Environment Agency.
Figures published on September 1 show that local authorities in Wales sent 599,703 tonnes of biodegradable waste to be buried in 2008/09. This is 24% less than the 788,000 tonnes allowed under the Welsh Landfill Allowances Scheme, and 16% less than the allowance for 2010.
From 2010, a new EU landfill directive will come into force, which includes financial penalties for authorities that bury high quantities of biodegradable waste.
Welsh Assembly Government Environment Minister Jane Davidson said it was an ‘excellent achievement’ that every authority had met the first EU target a year early.
‘The idea that we can simply bury waste in the ground and leave it to rot is from another era.
However, more recycling also represents an opportunity to generate renewable energy through the use of anaerobic digestion of this food waste.’
The WAG has provided £24m of extra funding to councils to collect and treat household waste, with 18 of 22 authorities now operating food waste collection services.
Environment Agency Wales director Chris Mills said the ‘creation of better facilities and people making a real effort to separate their waste is paying dividends’.
03 September 2009
Welsh councils look set to avoid European Union financial penalties for sending waste to landfill after achieving their targets a year early, according to the Environment Agency.
Figures published on September 1 show that local authorities in Wales sent 599,703 tonnes of biodegradable waste to be buried in 2008/09. This is 24% less than the 788,000 tonnes allowed under the Welsh Landfill Allowances Scheme, and 16% less than the allowance for 2010.
From 2010, a new EU landfill directive will come into force, which includes financial penalties for authorities that bury high quantities of biodegradable waste.
Welsh Assembly Government Environment Minister Jane Davidson said it was an ‘excellent achievement’ that every authority had met the first EU target a year early.
‘The idea that we can simply bury waste in the ground and leave it to rot is from another era.
However, more recycling also represents an opportunity to generate renewable energy through the use of anaerobic digestion of this food waste.’
The WAG has provided £24m of extra funding to councils to collect and treat household waste, with 18 of 22 authorities now operating food waste collection services.
Environment Agency Wales director Chris Mills said the ‘creation of better facilities and people making a real effort to separate their waste is paying dividends’.
