As the UK prepares to host COP26 this year and the Government continues to set itself ambitious climate change targets, the stark reality is that our domestic recycling rates in the UK are at worst declining and at best flatlining. Of the 341 local authorities across the UK 124 reported a decrease in waste recycling in 2019/20. The UK has failed to meet the target of 50% recycling by 2020 set by the European Union and with 36% of councils reporting a fall in recycling levels[1] (Williams 2021) there is an urgent need for investment, innovation, and reorganisation in our approach to recycling. The 2019/20 report, published by DEFRA, showed an enormous disparity in local authority performance with 40 percentage points separating the best and worst performing councils.[2] (DEFRA 2021) If this Government are going to prove their green credentials, then we need to look at how we deal with our domestic waste.
There is an environmental revolution happening right now and the UK, just as it has done on numerous occasions, leads the way in innovation, expertise, and invention. Every sector is examining its methods through the green tinted spectacles of environmental responsibility. Ideas are being born, honed, reimagined, and crafted until we reach the optimum outcome both scientifically and economically. The speed of growth in green technologies is so fast that the consumer can be caught out by the rapid evolution of an idea and find their purchase already obsolete. This extraordinary level of activity in the sector is driven by two things, an ethical desire to save the planet and the slightly less fashionable desire to make money.
The private sector and the free market are driving the green revolution just as they drove the industrial one 200 years ago. Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimate a global investment in the green energy sector of up to $173 trillion dollars over the next thirty years.[3] (Bloomberg NEF) With all this money sloshing about combined with some of our finest minds evolving our technologies it is bizarre that in a small but vital corner of the marketplace we are collecting our household waste in a relatively similar way to our Victorian counterparts.
The solution is to open up domestic waste kerbside collection up to the market; the ensuing market would then need to innovate to compete for business. It’s a well-worn idea that we Conservatives often champion and there’s a reason for that, it works! The current model that puts the Local Authority between the service and the customer is causing stagnation in the sector. The Labour run Hammersmith & Fulham council are currently tendering for their waste contract, it is for a period of 10 years;[4] (Hammersmith & Fulham Council 2021) that’s 10 years where the winning contractor will not need to innovate or update their mechanisms and is also guaranteed a substantial payment, this is not value for money. This overhead is then fed down into the resident’s council tax bill, the taxpayer would surely demand a better level of service from the waste company if they sourced their services themselves. This framework of public procurement stifles investment into the waste sector, essentially a small cartel of waste collection companies has carved up the Local Authority market, it is a public sector run monopoly, a centrist diktat. There is no opportunity for start-ups to break into the market, so the sector remains stale, undynamic and inward looking. Opening up the market invites start-ups to the party and turbo charges the economy.
By injecting competition into the domestic market, levels of clean recycling would increase. Waste collection companies would begin evolving mechanised separation and cleaner waste transfer. The Residents’ behaviour could be manipulated with tariffs for contaminated recycling; creating a chain reaction where consumers choose products with less packaging. By charging for the disposal of contaminated packaging the food industry would be incentivised to innovate thus positively impacting the ongoing fight against mixed plastics that are notoriously difficult to recycle. Companies could instigate a pay by weight with higher tariffs for non-recyclable waste. In Ireland, where the private sector deal with most of their domestic waste disposal[5], (Repak 2021) they have the ‘grey bin’ system. Each household has a grey bin that is only for non-recyclable waste, and you must pay a surcharge every time it needs collecting encouraging residents to increase their recycling to keep their grey bin level down.
Broadening the domestic sector would bring a new level of specialisation. Waste companies could specialise in food collection for example, this could then feed the biogas market. Much of our renewable energy is being created by waste to energy plants that need waste with high calorific values to produce electricity. This kind of specialisation would boost this energy source and provide a double whammy of recycling and renewable energy production.
It could almost be seen as a strange anomaly that we collect and recycle our household waste the way we do. In the UK Local Authorities impose a waste collection service upon its residents. It is a monopoly that is validated by the council as they are acting as an agent for the waste companies. The council tenders for the contract and decides based on its own inward-looking priorities. This is not an assumption, because it would be impossible to make that decision based on the priorities of the resident as each household’s priorities may differ wildly. The waste collection needs of a family with 2 adults, 4 children, 2 dogs, a cat and a hamster are entirely opposed to that of an elderly gentleman who lives alone with his budgie, yet the two dwellings are treated and charged exactly the same.
By opening up the market to the private sector, we are giving residents the right to choose. Companies can offer alternative frequency of collection, extent of manual separation, specialist services like collection of garden or DIY waste, together with higher levels of customer service. It could even be possible to ask your waste collection supplier to collect your rubbish on Boxing Day. I don’t believe there is another sector where the staff are given the day off on their busiest day of the year! By giving the consumer choice the sector would, like a sunflower searching out the sunlight, organically grow toward the best solutions.
The puzzling aspect to this solution is that we are already doing it! 222 million tonnes of waste are collected in the UK every year, 81% of which is commercial[6] (DEFRA 2021), this is all collected by private companies who are contracted directly by the commercial enterprise, they do not have to have their contract forced upon them by their local council. It is also the preferred methods in many European countries, including Ireland who have significantly higher recycling rates than the UK. The Republic of Ireland exceed the 2020 target of 50% recycling set buy the EU by some margin.[7] (Repak 2021)
The commercial model also disproves the theory that we would be at risk of more collection lorries clogging up our narrow terraced lined residential streets. However, the commercial market has shown that similar companies tend to serve similar areas and the idea of collection lorries on the roads everyday has not materialised.
Other common objections to bringing domestic waste collection into the private sector have been that it would encourage fly-tipping, however if this were the case we would see high levels of commercial fly-tipping and we don’t. DEFRA’s 2021 report on fly-tipping demonstrated that the reality is that the dumped waste is overwhelmingly domestic with two-thirds being household waste and 62% being transported by a small vehicle;[8] (DEFRA 2021) possibly a consequence of the poor-quality service being provided by council contractors and an inability to access council run recycling centres.
There is also an argument that rural areas would not be serviced as it is too expensive, but as with all markets, they adapt. Making the provision of a waste collection contract a mandatory part of owning a dwelling means that waste companies would inevitably provide this service. Rural residents do not pay more for energy supply even though they often are not connected to the gas main, they do not pay more for broadband although it often harder for providers to get optimum coverage. Collection services would not price themselves out of the market. Conservatives know competition drives up innovation and drives down price, a laptop is much cheaper today than 5 years ago.
The final and weakest opposition to this policy is that it would mean job losses, but just look into your food waste caddy and you will find another socialist red herring! Our domestic waste is already being collected by private companies; the only change here is the consumer is choosing the contract rather than the local authority. By giving the customer the right to choose, would see explosive growth in the waste sector meaning many more jobs. It should also be noted that most of the objections come from the incumbent suppliers, waste contractors and local authorities, surely as Conservatives we should be kicking down the door on this self-serving cartel and let in the fresh air of competition and growth.
There would be minimal cost to the Government to implement the changes, a simple piece of secondary legislation surrounding the collection of Council Tax and new piece of legislation making it mandatory to have a waste contract if you own a dwelling, just as we currently have with home insurance. The policy would be managed and overseen by DEFRA in conjunction with a waste collection watchdog. DEFRA, the watchdog, and waste collection companies could work together to monitor the levels of recycling coming from residential collection and advise on best practice making it eminently measurable and relatively adaptable.
As Conservatives we believe that a free-market drives innovation and investment. We lead the world in green technologies and by bringing the element of competition driven by the desire of the British people to support climate change initiatives we can top the league tables for recycling and not languish in 16th place[9] (Eunomia 2020). The Prime Minister recently said “Green and growth go hand in hand”[10] (Johnson 2020) and this policy demonstrates his point perfectly. It’s time for the domestic waste collection market to open up and catch up with the express train of green innovation that the UK is, once again, leading the world in.
[1] Williams, Corin. 2021. “A third of English Councils See a Decline in Recycling Rates.” https://www.mrw.co.uk/news/a-third-of-english-councils-see-a-decline-in…
[2] DEFRA. 2021. “Statistics on Waste Managed by Local Authorities in England in 2019/20.” https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uplo…
[3] Bloomberg NEF. 2021. “New Energy Outlook 2021.” https://about.bnef.com/new-energy-outlook/
[4] London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. 2021. “A Tender Notice by the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham” https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2021/W29/755367938
[5] Repak Annual Report. 2021. “Ireland Surpasses all EU Recovery and Recycling targets in 2020 despite Covid 19.” https://repak.ie/news-room/ireland-surpass-all-eu-recycling-and-recover…
[6] DEFRA. 2021. “UK Statistics on Waste.” https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uplo…
[7] Repak Annual Report. 2021. “Ireland Surpasses all EU Recovery and Recycling targets in 2020 despite Covid 19.” https://repak.ie/news-room/ireland-surpass-all-eu-recycling-and-recover…
[8] DEFRA. 2021. “Fly-Tipping Statistics for England, 2019/20.” https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uplo…
[9] Eunomia Resource Media. 2020. “Recycling Who Really Leads the World?” https://resource.co/sites/default/files/World%20Recycling%20League%20-%…
[10] Johnson Boris. 2020. “Now is the Time to Plan our Green Recovery.” https://www.ft.com/content/6c112691-fa2f-491a-85b2-b03fc2e38a30
