Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme

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• Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme
• Project Dissertation
• Presented by
• Elanor Rhodes
• Premier Waste Management

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Overview

• Project Outline
• Project Methodology
• Results
• Conclusions
• Recommendations

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Newcastle College

• Course started September 2003
• Foundation Degree in Sustainable Wastes and
  Environmental Management
• Newcastle College in Association with Northumbria
  University
• Three year course including a Final Year Project
  submitted June 2006

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Final Year Project

• A critical evaluation of the potential impact of
  the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) in
  England
• Aim to evaluate the potential changes which
  will have to be made throughout England in order
  to achieve LATS targets.

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Why did I choose LATS as a topic?

• It had to be work related
• Premier provides waste management strategies and
  solutions to local authorities in the North East
• It is important as a company to evaluate the
  needs of local authorities so that the Company
  can supply the relevant services
• And to ensure the company can adjust to market
  needs

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Background to LATS

• Implemented to meet the demands of the Landfill
  Directive
• Commenced on 1st April 2005
• It sets progressively tighter restrictions on the
  amount of biodegradable waste which can be
  landfilled.
• Overall it means a reduction from 15.2 million
  tonnes per year to 5.2 million tonnes in 2020 in
  England alone.

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Methodology

• Three research objectives
• To critically evaluate the impact of LATS
• To assess the views of local authorities in
  England
• To review the effectiveness of the scheme and the
  changes required in order to comply with the
  scheme

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Data Collection

• Limited academic research available
• Various reports commissioned by DEFRA and local
  authorities
• First scheme of its type
• No comparative data was available
• Main Source of Information Questionnaire sent
  to all 121 English Waste Disposal Authorities

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Data Collection

• Advantages of using a questionnaire
• Quick
• Simple
• Potential High Response Rate
• Low Cost
• Ability to use various open and closed questions

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Data Collection

• A Questionnaire was sent to all 121 Waste
  Disposal Authorities
• 60 response rate
• Due to time constraints the views of private
  waste management companies could not be obtained.

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Ethical Issues

• It is important to note that
• Individual responses have been treated
  confidentially
• Responses received might not be the view of the
  local authority but the individual who completed
  the questionnaire
• The conclusions might not represent the best
  solution for everyone

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• Data Analysis / Results

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Current and Future Disposal Methods
At present over 85 of local authorities use
landfill as their main disposal route, however
they anticipate that future disposal will shift
to Energy from Waste, with over 20 of
authorities unaware of which method they will be
using.
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Waste Strategies

• Approximately 94 of Local Authorities have a
  Waste Strategy Document
• And 50 of these need to now be amended
• Resulting in additional pressure on resources
  i.e. time, money and the need for public
  consultations.

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Waste Hierarchy
There are various methods already employed by
local authorities to implement the Waste
Hierarchy, however
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Waste Hierarchy

• Different Strategies are needed to help achieve
  LATS such as

• Alternate weekly collections
• Partnership Working
• Recycling Enforcement
• No side waste collection
• Kitchen Waste Collections
• Commercial Recycling
• Extension of kerbside recycling schemes to
  include extra materials
• Maximise recovery from other services i.e. bulky
  waste, fly tipping, CA Sites
• Improved Waste Education
• Move to EfW, MBT, Pyrolysis, anaerobic/aerobic
  digestion, in vessel composting etc.

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Resource Availability
Over 60 of Local Authorities stated that they
feel that they have sufficient human resources to
implement their Waste Strategy but not enough
financial resources. The study showed that
financial resources are becoming more and more
stretched due to additional services (e.g.
kerbside), increased disposal costs, investment
requirements etc
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Resource Availability

• The Financial Burden of LATS will vary
  considerably across authorities, the study
  highlighted that one view is that
• LATS rich authorities will make money through the
  sale of permits and therefore have additional
  money to spend on services
• LATS poor authorities will have to divert money
  from services to spend on permits

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DEFRA Support
Only 40 of authorities stated that they have
received sufficient support from DEFRA
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New Facilities
70 of Local Authorities will require new
facilities in order to meet their LATS targets,
and over 60 believe that they will encounter
problems during the planning process when trying
to build these facilities
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Relationship with Private Waste Management
Companies
Approx 90 of Local Authorities outsource waste
management to a private company, but only 67
think that they have the knowledge and ability to
meet their needs in the future.
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Contracts
Over 40 of contracts will have to be
re-negotiated (although this could already have
been scheduled) and over 30 of local authorities
think that there isnt enough capability within
the sector to meet everyones needs.
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Council Members Vs Government
More local authorities believe that waste is
higher priority for Council Members possibly
due to the daily interaction between members and
the public than for the Government as a whole.
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Members of the Public
90 of local authorities are of the opinion that
the General Public do not know the true cost of
waste disposal.
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Will LATS work?
70 of Local Authorities believe that LATS will
work and the amount of BMW sent to landfill will
be reduced but what about the other 30
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Conclusions

• What are the main obstacles?
• Funding / Costs
• Resources
• New Facilities
• Support (or lack of it)
• Better Contracts
• Public awareness of waste issues and costs

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Trend Analysis

• Research suggests that the critical achievement
  years are 2005-2010 mainly due to the lack of
  facilities
• Analysis predicts that the trend will change
  dramatically from 2005/6 where allowances will
  outstrip demand, to 2008/9 onwards where demand
  will outstrip supply.
• There is the possibility of a deficit position
  occurring after 2009/10
• Which could result in infraction proceedings
  being taken against the UK.

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How can diversion be achieved?

• Analysis shows that the following methods can be
• beneficial
• The implementation of biodegradable waste
  collection such as garden waste and kitchen
  wastes for composting
• The achievement of high recycling rates of 44-55
  as per the highest performing authorities
• It is important to have a successful and well
  delivered collection system
• Think about changing to alternate weekly
  collections
• Requires a culture change but it can result in
  high diversion rates
• Could reduce the financial burden by using the
  same vehicles

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How can diversion be achieved?

• Try to achieve high participation and capture
  rates
• Link local campaigns to national campaigns to
  cascade one message
• Increase educational awareness
• Make the public aware of the true costs
• Maintain positive feedback with householders
• Engage in open discussions regarding waste
  management to try and ease the predicted planning
  problems

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Recommendations

• Carry out regional analysis to allow regions to
  become self-sufficient
• Further work is required into New Technologies
  and the diversion rates of each technology
• Ensure waste arisings are calculated alongside
  LATS to identify problem years
• Ensure that authorities have contractual
  flexibility with waste contractors to transfer /
  share the burden of LATS
• Start the planning / building process for new
  facilities now before the first target year.

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• Thank you
• Elanor.Rhodes_at_premierwaste.com
• enquiries_at_premierwaste.com
• www.premierwaste.com