Refuse collection

The Committee remains to be convinced that incentive or charging schemes will work well in England. The operation of only five pilot schemes (out of a total of 354 local authorities) by 2012, covering four different collection methods, in a mixture of rural and urban settings, is unlikely to provide sufficient information to judge whether all authorities should be able to offer such collection schemes. The Committee cannot see why any council would set up a complicated incentive or charging scheme that earns it no money and risks widespread public disapproval. The pilot schemes will have government funding, but that will not be available should there be a roll-out across all authorities, and the Committee calls for a full assessment of the implications for council budgets of instigating such schemes. No scheme will start before 2009, but will run for three years, which means that financial incentive schemes will have no discernible effect on local authorities' duty to meet European Union landfill diversion targets before penalties fall due in 2010 and 2013. The government's decision to cap the amounts local authorities can offer as incentives or take in charges runs counter to its rhetoric on local decision making. The Committee believes the government has retreated from its proposals outlined in the "Waste strategy for England 2007" (Cm. 7086, ISBN 9780101708623). The result is a messy compromise attracting hostile media coverage for a limited set of pilot schemes that will have little impact before EU fines fall due. The government should reconsider devolving the power to introduce schemes to local authorities themselves, as they are best placed to judge how refuse should be collected and whether local residents should be asked to gain incentives by increasing their recycling or to pay additional charges if they do not.