3.147 To create the necessary infrastructure to meet the requirements of the EU Landfill Directive and continue progress on waste, the Government:
• has allocated £2 billion in Waste Infrastructure Credits (formerly known as PFI Credits) to 32 waste treatment and management projects, providing publicly funded infrastructure investments using private finance. This investment is managed by the Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme (WIDP) and will help divert an additional 1.6 million tonnes of waste from landfill in England by 2020; and
• revised its interpretation of municipal waste in 2010 to include a much greater proportion of commercial and industrial waste collected by the private sector. As a result, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs reviewed the future of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme and will close the scheme at the end of 2012-13 in order to deliver a more efficient mix of policies. The landfill tax will act as the primary disincentive to landfill. The standard rate is set at £56 per tonne in 2011-12 and will rise by £8 per annum until at least 2014-15.
3.148 To create the necessary infrastructure to meet the requirements of the EU Waste Framework Directive and improve the UK's overall record on waste:
• as part of the Anaerobic Digestion Action Plan, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has set up a new loan fund of £10 million to provide debt finance to help stimulate investment in additional infrastructure to support this method of recovering energy from waste to put to productive uses. The fund will be used to help prevent 300,000 tonnes of food waste from going to landfill annually and generate around 60 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity a year by 2020. The Government estimates that, if the barriers to uptake are overcome, anaerobic digestion might deliver between 3-5 terawatt hours of electricity by 2020 (about 3-5 times the current level).18 WRAP will also set up a new loan fund of £9 million to provide debt finance to help stimulate investment in additional infrastructure to support the recycling of mixed plastics packaging;
• commercial and industrial (C&I) waste has been identified as one of the priority industry sectors for investment by the Green Investment Bank (GIB);
• to improve and add certainty to the process of planning for infrastructure investments, the Responsibility Deal with the waste management industry will deliver from 2014:
• commits industry to sharing C&I waste data with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs;
• commits Government and industry to reducing the average time taken to determine planning applications and reducing the number of applications decided on appeal; and
• introduces further work on development of a Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) code of practice to improve the quality of input and outputs at MRFs and provide better information on quality.
• the Government has been taking a number of steps to improve the planning system, which will reduce costs and delays for waste infrastructure projects. For large schemes, the major infrastructure planning regime is now seeing projects move through the process, with the first project given consent by the IPC being an energy from waste plant in Bedfordshire. The Government is also undertaking a light touch review of the process to make the system more flexible, particularly in the pre-application phase;
• For waste projects outside of the major infrastructure planning process, a number of planning principles of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will apply. In addition, Planning Policy Statement 10 (PPS10), which sets out the principles for making decisions on waste planning, is also being revised in line with measures to streamline planning policy;
• The revised Waste Framework Directive requires each EU member state to produce one or more Waste Management Plans. In the UK, there will be separate plans for England and each of the devolved administrations. The Government is committed to delivering a new National Waste Management Plan for England by spring 2013, assuming a Strategic Environmental Statement (SEA) is required. Until this time, the current Waste Management Plans, which include the National Waste Strategy as complimented by PPS10, will remain in force; and
• the National Policy Statement for Hazardous Waste should remove some of the existing barriers to the development of major hazardous waste infrastructure and encourage industry to put forward development proposals for the infrastructure that is needed. This is due to be published by summer 2012.
3.149 To enable businesses and local authorities to contribute to its waste objectives, the Government committed in the waste review to:
• encouraging local authorities to consider whether Household Waste and Recycling Centres, and other facilities for the public to deposit waste and recycling, could be adapted to accept business waste and recycling for a reasonable charge by October 2013;
• launching, by October 2012, a Business Waste and Recycling Collection Commitment - local authorities are invited to sign up to twelve good practice principles to demonstrate how they are working to make it easier for businesses to do the right thing;
• as part of the Responsibility Deal with the Waste and Resource Management Sector, raising awareness of waste prevention and sustainable waste management and exploring ways to increase take up of recycling services by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises from 2014 onwards; and
• as an ongoing activity, encouraging Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to participate in collectively procured recycling contracts to help make recycling contracts more cost-effective and convenient.
3.150 Beyond these measures, to further help achieve the zero waste economy vision and the transition to a green economy, the Government will:
• address a range of minimum producer responsibility targets between 2012 and 2016 covering packaging, Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE), End of Life Vehicles (ELV) and batteries;
• develop a comprehensive Waste Prevention Programme by the end of 2013 to drive waste reduction and re-use as part of a broader resource efficiency programme.
• develop voluntary approaches to cutting waste, increasing recycling, and improve the overall quality of recycled products;
• consult on the case for higher packaging recovery targets for some key materials, in time to allow for a final decision at Budget 2012; and
• consult on restricting wood waste to landfill and review the case for restricting other wastes to landfill, including textiles and biodegradable waste during 2012.
3.151 The Department for Communities and Local Government's new Weekly Collections Support Fund will also help support the provision of waste infrastructure to support comprehensive and frequent rubbish and recycling collections
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18 Anaerobic digestion strategy and action plan, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2011