Axing EU bin rules ‘will cut recycling schemes from 400 to 3 and save £2bn’
BREXIT offers Britain “a huge opportunity” to simplify recycling and dodge a £2billion hike in costs from the European Union, a thinktank claimed yesterday.
The number of collection systems across England could be cut from more than 400 to just three, according to the Policy Exchange report.
Councils and waste management firms have come up with a wide range of ways to meet the EU Waste Framework Directive’s targets of recycling 50 per cent of household waste by 2020.
This has led to some households having to separate rubbish into as many as 10 bins, boxes and bags – and the systems varying from council to council.
Failure to meet the target could lead to fines being imposed on Britain. The report urged the Departments for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Communities and Local Government to set a timetable for simplifying “the 400+ collection systems for waste and recycling across England.”
Earlier this week senior Keep Britain Tidy executive Richard McIlwain said a national recycling blueprint is needed adding: “It’s very difficult to have a national conversation about what we can recycle and what should be recycled when everyone is doing something different.”
The report, by economists Richard Howard and Tom Galloway, showed that the EU’s plan for a Circular Economy – which involves reusing and recycling more – would cost British businesses an extra £2 billion over the next 20 years.
It accepts that EU directives have helped boost household recycling from 12 per cent of waste in 2000-01 to 43 per cent in 2014-15.
And it added: “However, it is becoming less and less clear what European waste policies are trying to achieve: the objectives are muddled, and the proposed recycling targets are badly designed.”
Controversially, it calls for a greater focus on generating electricity by burning rubbish in incinerators and creating “green gas” by using black bag waste.
Defra last night acknowledged Brexit will let Britain improve its waste management. A spokesman said: “Cutting waste and increasing recycling are vital for our economy and leaving the EU creates the opportunity to drive environmental improvements tailored to the needs of our country.”
SCRAPPING Brussels regulations on waste and recycling could save Britain £2billion according to new research. It is not just EU rules on waste that are rubbish though. If slashing the red tape regarding waste disposal can make such a difference just imagine the sort of savings and improvements that are possible if we follow a similar approach for every other area of the economy.
Unravelling the mass of Brussels regulations that are currently stifling business is a process unlikely to begin before Brexit has taken place and it will last until long after we have left the EU. This is a vital project though. MPs must prepare early for getting started on it.