Northern Ireland Statistics

Landfill Statistics Show Risk of Big Money in Landfill Fines for the UK

There are some interesting landfill statistics that can be projected about the EU fines which nations could and up paying if they fail to meet EU targets for the diversion of waste away from landfill and increased recycling.

These were projected for the UK in 2006, and the following is extract from a paper given in 2006 to the Waste Conference held in Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, UK in September 2006. While they were correct in that the UK will meet its 2010 targets, it remains to be seen whether the 2013 targets can be met. There is still a huge amount of investment needed for the UK to meet them. But, just look at he cost of the fines which may still be levied and were postulated by the authors.

Extract from ‘PAIN AND GAIN’ IN MEETING LANDFILL DIRECTIVE REQUIREMENTS, Authors R. J. COUTH AND A. STREET, SLR Consulting Ltd.

Cost estimates for the new infrastructure required to meet the Landfill Directive targets in the UK vary between 6bn and 10bn depending on the assumptions made and the timing of the estimates. This equates to up 50M per Authority for new infrastructure based upon 201 WDAs and Unitary Authorities across the UK. It is reported that if the UK does not meet Landfill Directive targets then it would face infraction proceedings which incur fines imposed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of up to 500, 000 per day together with high administration costs.

This would result in fines in excess of 180 million each year, and whilst this is a large sum in isolation it equates to a cost of 6.29 per tonne assuming a total of 29 million tonnes of MSW for the UK as a whole. Within the context of costs of up to 100 per tonne to treat residual waste, or 150 to 200 per tonne for LATS related penalties, this would seem a relatively modest. If the annual increase in waste arisings can be curtailed, and recycling and composting continue to increase at current rates, then England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should all be able to meet the 2010 Landfill Directive target.

A key factor in this will be the way in which trade waste is collected. If trade waste is separately collected and is not classified as municipal waste then it would not be included in the allowances. Meeting the 50% 2013 target will take a step change in the way that waste is managed, with a considerable amount of new residual waste treatment infrastructure required.

New facilities such as EfW plants typically take a minimum of 6 years for the planning, procurement, design, construction and commissioning stages. It is therefore quite likely that the residual waste treatment capacity required to meet the 2013 Landfill Directive targets will not be in place simply because there is insufficient time and market capacity to do so.

The UK waste industry has investigated and assessed the barriers that are likely to prevent the introduction of a more sustainable approach waste management and which could therefore result in failure to meet Landfill Directive targets.

These have been identified (SLR Consulting Ltd 2005) as:

Failure to arrest waste growth;

Insufficient effort being given to waste reduction and reuse;

Lack of financial incentives for waste producers to apply the waste hierarchy and

seek alternatives to landfill;

Lack of public accountability to manage waste in a sustainable manner;

Lack of funding and investment in waste management ;

To many new initiatives which lack coordination e.g. WRAP, WIP, BREW,

Envirowise;

Concerns over the complexity of procurement process;

Lack of clear vision from central Government down;

Lack of resources, capacity and expertise in central and local government to deliver;

Lack of public awareness and engagement in waste reduction and recycling;

Lack of understanding by the public of the key issues relating to waste;

Difficulties experienced by the waste industry in delivery;

Lack of experienced professionals at all levels;

Failure to ‘design out’ waste at the product design stage;

Split of responsibility for waste and waste related matters between a number of

Government departments (e.g. Defra, ODPM, DTI, Treasury, OGC);

Split of responsibility between two-tier WCAs and WDAs in England;

Perceived failure or inability of planning system to deliver;

Politics at a local level ha ving too much influence on deliverability;

Dissemination of misinformation by the media on the environmental and health

impacts of various waste related activities;

Lack of comprehensive data and information;

Too great a focus on municipal waste;

Uncertainty over the ‘marketability’ of certain waste derived products (e.g. refuse

derived fuel (RDF), biomass);

Uncertainty over the definition of waste and certain materials as waste; and

Uncertainty over the performance of certain technologies in reducing the biodegradability of waste (e.g. MBT).

Many of these issues are being addressed in various ways by all parties involved in waste management, with varying degrees of success.

Will the UK meet the target? We shall have to wait and see!

Click on the link later in this sentence for more landfill information and landfill statistics. For information about landfill settlement visit "An Introduction to Landfill Settlement" downloads page.

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