TALKING RUBBISH

Parliament is busy gearing up for the start of a new Parliamentary session.  Our year begins with the Queen’s Speech, which marks the official opening of Parliament.  Amongst much ceremony and tradition, the Queen comes to Parliament for her annual visit and bestows on the Government the responsibility of legislating and governing. It’s in her speech, written by the Government, that the plans for the coming year will be set out. Look out for it this year on November 6^th.

I expect to see a couple big themes: action on the environment, and more decisions to be made at a local level. I’m pleased to see plans in both these areas. Both are important, and I think that taking smart steps now will help to improve the quality of life here in North Staffordshire.

Last week, one issue that came up was about plans for the waste that we all produce. My feeling is that we all need to take part in the debate about how we can change.  The fact is that the current system isn’t working. England currently disposes of 63% of municipal waste into landfill sites. These cause a number of problems, not least producing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Methane emissions from landfill account for 38% of all UK methane emissions and 3% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions.  We are also fast running out of suitable sites to fill up with the mountains of waste we produce annually.

Both Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Moorlands are lagging behind the best in the country as far as recycling is concerned.  Figures show that constituents in the Staffordshire Moorlands recycle about one third of their waste.  But in Stoke-on-Trent the amount is just one fifth.  Consider that some councils manage to get half of the waste in their areas recycled.

So something needs to be done. This year’s Government’s Waste Strategy looks at targets for waste minimisation and recycling. And it’s happening across Europe – all EU countries now have targets for a reduction of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill. 

Of course, there is a lot of work to do with producers and retailers to make sure that the packaging and products which they sell are as sustainable as possible.

But like so many big challenges, it ultimately comes down to what we do locally.  Local authorities need residents to take steps to reduce their waste, home compost more and recycle more.  If residents do not change their behaviour, authorities may need to invest in more expensive waste technologies and may face penalties.  That means that there is less money left for other services, like schools.

I know that there has been controversy recently, when the Local Government Association and some local authorities called for the power to charge householders according to the amount of non-recyclable waste they throw away. The ideas is that this would encourage households to reduce their waste and recycle and home compost more.  Such schemes are prohibited in the UK under current legislation but are widespread in other parts of Europe.  The UK is the only EU15 country to have such a prohibition.

I believe that local authorities need to have options open if they are going to be able to make inroads into these mountains of rubbish. There is no one easy way to fix the big environmental challenges that we face.  But I think that if we work together, there are some good ideas which could make tackling the problems much easier. This is also an important part of increasing local flexibility and part of the Government’s devolutionary agenda. 

If you live in Stoke-on-Trent North and would like to know more about dealing with rubbish, then please be in touch.