Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the financial effect on Ribble Valley Borough Council of the withdrawal of recycling credits by Lancashire County Council.

Guidance

Recycling credits is a policy issue for which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has the lead. DEFRA previously published guidance on the Recycling Credits Scheme in 2006 and this can be found at:

http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/partnerwork/documents/recyclingcreditscheme-guidance.pdf

The guidance and legislation are clear that, further to Section 52 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, waste disposal authorities (the county council) have a legal duty to pay waste disposal credits to a waste collection authority (the borough council) in their area when the waste collection authority diverts waste from the household waste stream for recycling. This duty is waived only if the waste collection authority has agreed that such payments need not be made by the waste disposal authority.

Recycling credits

I understand the recycling credits system has worked well in Ribble Valley. It has encouraged the borough to improve recycling rates while retaining weekly collections of residual waste. Ribble Valley’s recycling collection is beneficial for Lancashire County Council as (i) the waste does not therefore go to landfill and incur landfill tax; and (ii) it receives the value of the recycled materials.

My Department does not collect data on or estimate the financial effect on councils as a result of the withdrawal of recycling credits. However, we have been made aware that the financial effect of the withdrawal of recycling credits by Lancashire County Council in Ribble Valley will be considerable.

It is unacceptable if Lancashire County Council is trying to force Ribble Valley to end its weekly bin collection due to the withdrawal of recycling credits. It should find a way of agreeing a fair financial deal which is acceptable to Ribble Valley and also maintains a weekly collection.

It is a myth that weekly bin collection and high levels of recycling cannot go hand in hand, as we have made clear in our practice guidance on weekly collections supported in January 2014, based on the evidence and best practice learnt from the Weekly Collections Support Scheme.

Funding

It does seem perverse and unfair that the cost of recycling should fall completely on Ribble Valley Borough Council when, based upon its efforts, Lancashire County Council avoids the costs of disposal to landfill and is able to sell the recyclate material.

There are no plans for my Department to provide special financial support to district councils in Lancashire, as this change stems from actions of the county council, not the Government. However, we would strongly recommend that Ribble Valley take its own legal advice on this matter, given the County Council may potentially be in breach of its legal duties under the 1990 Act.

More broadly, my Department has offered other means of support to councils from the Weekly Collection Support Scheme and in November 2012, Ribble Valley District Council was awarded £750,000 from the Scheme to introduce new fortnightly mixed food and garden waste collections and support weekly residual waste collections.