What will be the big issues in 2002?

Anyone involved in environmental or waste management issues will need to be

prepared to burn the midnight oil to keep pace with the reams of reports and

consultation documents that the Government has issued or to which responses

are expected into the New Year.

The findings of an evaluation of Phase 1 of the Local Air Quality Management

(LAQM) system commissioned by DEFRA and the Devolved Administrations, which

is looking at what has worked well and what could usefully be improved, should

be of considerable interest when they are completed early in March.

A highly significant report is expected to be published in the summer following

DEFRA Secretary of State Margaret Beckett’s announcement at last year’s Waste

Summit that she is to preside over a review of the Government’s Waste Strategy

by the Cabinet Office’s Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU).

Also due out early this year is the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s

ongoing study on Environmental Planning. Next in line from the Royal Commission

will be a study on the Long-term Effects of Chemicals in the Environment.

Crystal ball predictions

Expert interest groups helped LAWE peer into the crystal ball.

NSCA , for instance, expects that the DEFRA noise strategy will launch local

authorities on the process of noise mapping or major urban areas’ transport

links and assessing people’s exposure to noise.

Local authorities will start to plan for the introduction of low emission zones,

as part of their air quality action plans and more polluting vehicles will be

excluded from pollution hotspots by 2004/2005.

NSCA also anticipates that pilot work on local climate change action plans

will be rolled out to more authorities.

Waste issues

Looking into the coming year, IWM flags up funding as continuing to be a major

issue, with more legislation placing increasing pressure on the availability

of funding and resources for waste management. The option of direct charging

at the household level could be the subject of further debate.

The future of the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme will be of significant importance

to the sector as a whole, and the long awaited consultation paper on this will

lead the way on what could be an interesting debate, as it is not clear what

shape the scheme will take, or indeed what would be the future for the Landfill

Tax itself after 2004.

However, IWM says that what is clear is that the industry is keen to see the

positive aspects of the scheme being enhanced and more money made available

to fund sustainable waste management projects.

New and alternative technology is likely to get a fillip as different approaches

are taken to manage waste outside of landfill sites in preparation for target

deadlines.

In the light of the health and risk studies relating to waste operations it

seems likely that 2002 will see a revived interest in this area with an increased

focus on health issues, which local and national government will need to address,

particularly in the context of planning related issues.

Pretreatment under the Landfill Directive is also on the agenda of policy developments

under consideration by the Environmental Industries Commission’s (EIC) Integrated

Waste Management Group along with other issues likely to continue to figure

in the sector’s discussions during the coming year, such as the operation of

the £140 million recycling fund to be provided by DEFRA over the next

two years, to help local authorities deliver their legal obligations to increase

recycling.

Among many other current issues being addressed by the EIC Group are the operation

and distribution of the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, under consultation,

and draft technical guidance from the Environment Agency on Clinical Waste Facilities,

which is the latest manifestation of attempts by Government to deal with this

long-standing question, which, if past history is any guide, will run and run.

Equipment standards

The influence of EU legislation and standards reaches into every aspect of environment

regulation and waste management operations, not least in the field of equipment

and vehicles where low noise and emissions have a major impact on the design

of RCVs and street cleaners.

The waste collection equipment manufacturers, represented by CHEM, which works

within the industry to produce technical standards, such as its authoritative

CHEM Guide, also have to comply with EU Directives. CHEM reports that it has

recently completed noise regulation trials at MIRA in response to new European

directives. Details are expected to be released later in the year when CHEM’s

figures and views have been finalised.

Focus on incineration

One of the most critical issues where heat will continue to be generated will

be over the extent to which incineration, with or without energy recovery, can

be applied to disposing of the UK’s growing waste mountain.

As landfill sites dwindle and recycling schemes face hard going in making progress

towards attaining national waste minimisation and recycling targets, such as

recycling 25% of municipal waste by 2005, the omens do not look encouraging

for the energy-from-waste lobby.

The recent decision by Surrey County Council’s planning committee to give the

go-ahead to only one of three proposed e-f-w plants, with the recommendation

heavily qualified by constraints, is a clear indication of the current climate

of opinion, where incineration is stigmatised in the view of many environmentalists

as representing an unacceptable health hazard.

One certain prediction for the coming year is that the debate over burning

waste will be fierce and prove a political timebomb for any Minister faced with

the thankless task of weighing up whether or not a particular project should

get the green light.