Waste management industry body lays out benefits of producer responsibility levies for local authorities
Local Authorities could save £300m a year if firms who make products that are prone to ending up as litter helped meet some of the costs of their clean-up, according to resource and waste management industry body the Environmental Services Association (ESA).
In a policy paper released today, the ESA laid out how the manufacturers of cigarettes, chewing gum and fast food could contribute to the huge costs associated with the littering of their products while also better engaging the public through anti-litter campaigns.
Smoking material costs local authorities in the UK an estimated £140m per year to clear up, while littered chewing costs around £60m, and fast food packaging £100m, the paper said.
The ESA is therefore calling on the government to consider the role that Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies, which oblige companies to foot the bill for disposal of their products after sale and use, could play in its upcoming litter strategy.
Jacob Hayler, executive director of ESA, said transferring the cost of preventing and clearing up these items to the private sector could save Local Authorities around £300m per year, while also providing firms with a clear financial incentive to help tackle litter.
"ESA's policy paper recommends the introduction of producer responsibility levies on the manufacturers of some of the most frequently littered items," he said in a statement. "This money would be used by Local Authorities to cover litter clean-up costs or to help fund anti-litter campaigns."
The report comes in the same week as the plastics recycling industry issued a new 'wish list' calling for a renewed policy push to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.
The industry said a "disconnect" between the end of life of materials and the design, procurement and sales of new durable products is creating a "missing link" in the circular economy.
Recycling associations including the British Plastic Federation and EURIC are therefore calling for "realistic thresholds" to be put on end of life products from the automobile and electronics industry, building on EPR requirements for the end-of-life capture, collection and recycling or recovery of the products the industries put on the market.
The wish list also calls for a continuous exchange of views between legislators and the recycling industry if policy changes are planned.
In other recycling news, recycling rewards scheme provider Greenredeem and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) last week announced a two year extension of their partnership which will now last until at least 2018.
Greenredeem said its recycling rewards programme has motivated participants in the scheme to recycle twice as much and twice as often as non-members since it was launched in 2009, helping the borough boost its recycling rate from 34 per cent to just under 46 per cent. In addition, the provider said the local economy has been boosted by nearly £16m.
Rob Crumbie, director of marketing and communications at Greenredeem, said he was "thrilled" to see the partnership extended.
"Working together we've been able to really make a difference on so many fronts; increasing the amount of recycling collected, supporting the local economy during difficult economic conditions and enabling local good causes to undertake the great work that they are trying to implement in local communities," he said in a statement.
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