Monmouthshire to Miss Vital Recycling Target | "Council tax payers will be hit by £400,000 bill"

12.00.00am GMT Wed 19th Mar 2008

Council Tax payers in Monmouthshire face being hit with a £400,000 tax bill after official figures released by the National Assembly for Wales show Monmouthshire will miss a vital recycling target for 2012.

"Monmouthshire risks being fined nearly half-a-million pounds if the County does not grasp the nettle now and increase efforts and investment in recycling", said Michael German, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the National Assembly for Wales.

Mr. German was speaking after official figures from the National Assembly for Wales showed that the rate of recycling in Monmouthshire is slowing down and if this continues the County will face stiff fines in 2012.

Chepstow County Councillor, Phil Hobson, who leads the opposition Liberal Democrats on the County Council said, "We have been warning the current Conservative run council for the last four years that we are in danger of being hit by fines we cannot afford to pay. There has been no sense of urgency from them and now we have the dire warning: up your game or get fined."

Mr. Hobson pointed to the decision by the Conservatives administration to cancel investment in expanding recycling schemes in the north of Monmouthshire two years ago. "We warned then that this decision would have consequences for the future and that we risked missing the vital target in 2012. They took no notice and we are now on course to get hit by a £400,000 bill."

"As a matter of urgency we must roll out doorstep recycling to every house in Monmouthshire and collect food waste from every home too. We have to work with local businesses to make recycling easy, simple and effortless."

Mr. Hobson said that the main priority should be now to collect plastics from the doorstep. "It's vital. The council doesn't want to do this. They make every excuse under the sun. The news of our potential fine means we have no choice and we must redouble our efforts to make recycling an easy and simple process for people in Monmouthshire. Anything less will now not do."

According to figures produced, Monmouthshire is projected to miss its recycling target in 2012 by 2,000 tonnes. "That could easily be met by collecting plastics and food waste from every home", said Phil Hobson.

NOTES

Nodiadau

· Figures obtained form the National Assembly for Wales, Members Research Service; Research Paper, "Waste Management in Wales", March 2008. http://www.assemblywales.org/08-008.pdf

· The research paper updates and replaces a previous research paper of the same title, to include data up to 2006/07.

· The paper examines Wales' current performance in waste management. Progress in reaching the national Waste Strategy targets is considered, and the waste hierarchy are reviewed.

· The most challenging issue is the impending targets set by the Landfill Directive for 2009/10 and 2012/13. If landfill diversion continues at current rates then Welsh local authorities will be subject to Welsh Assembly Government fines of more than £7 million in 2010, and £27 million in 2013

· At current rates of increase in recycling and composting 12 will fail to meet the target. The overall recycling and composting rate will be 39 per cent by 2009/10.

· In order to meet the 2020 target of 300kg of waste production per person, household waste needs to decrease by 4 per cent annually from 2006/07. A 4 per cent annual reduction in household waste arisings is also required to meet the 2009/10 target of waste per household being no greater than it was in 1997/98.

· Under the Government of Wales Act 2006, legislative competence is being sought by the Welsh Assembly Government in the field of waste management. The Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing has provided illustrative examples of some of the topics that could be within the scope of the proposed Environmental Protection and Waste Management Legislative Competence Order.

Local authorities in the Gwent area projected to miss the 2012/2103 landfill targets based on figures produced by the Members research Service of the National Assembly for Wales, March 2008.