Recycling and waste

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Information for local authorities: performance management

Statutory recycling targets

2007/08

Defra has announced further local authority recycling and composting targets in 2007/08. The statutory performance standards for recycling and composting in 2007/08 for all local authorities will be equal to the level of their targets in 2005/06. The exception is those local authorities with a target of 18 per cent in 2005/06. These are required to raise their performance to 20 per cent. The Government has decided to maintain the cap on those authorities with a 30 per cent target in 2005/06.

This announcement followed a consultation in 2005 on options for recycling targets for 2007/08. The Government issued a response to the consultation.

Defra has allowed some authorities to pool their targets in 2007/08.

Pooling allows groups of waste authorities to work together to achieve Best Value by changing the individual levels of recycling and composting required of each of them, as long as the overall tonnage of waste recycled by the pool as a whole exceeds that which would be recycled in the absence of the pooling arrangements. Individual Statutory Performance Standards of lower than 20% within the pool were not accepted.

Proposals had to be submitted by 20 October 2006 collectively by groups of authorities wishing to pool their standards. Further information on pooling was included with a letter and guidance sent to authorities on 6 September 2006.

The Statutory Instrument that enforces the recycling targets for 2007/08, and the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum (which includes a final Regulatory Impact Assessment starting on page 7) can be found below:

There was an overwhelming support from respondents to the consultation in favour of a strategy for engaging and intervening with authorities performing poorly against their statutory performance standards for recycling and composting. Defra recognises that the strategy needs to be tailored to and proportionate to the authorities of most concern. Defra will employ a range of engagement and intervention measures for dealing with poor performance against statutory performance standards both in 2005/06 and 2007/08:

A “one-size fits all” approach will not work. The type of engagement each authority receives will require a careful segmentation of the poor performers: those authorities which fail to meet their recycling targets and fall within the following categories are most likely to be the focus of action:

  • Authorities still recycling in single figures
  • Authorities with whom either the Minister or Defra officials have met personally with regards poor performance in recycling and persistently perform poorly against their targets and are below the national average
  • Authorities that only narrowly met previous target(s) and below the national average.

In 2005, Defra commissioned AEA Technology to undertake a short review of target setting to examine the impact and effectiveness of existing local authority targets and their interaction with other policy instruments on waste, in particular (but not exclusively) those underpinned by targets. The study aimed to inform decisions on future national recycling and composting targets, and the need for specific local authority targets to underpin national targets.

The Government believes that there is a role for future statutory performance standards related to recycling and composting of household waste. The consultation on the review of waste strategy invited views on whether, in the longer term, proposed national targets should be translated into some form of statutory performance standards for local authorities and, if yes, how far ahead any future targets should be set.

The consultation closed on 9 May 2006, following a 12 week period of consultation. All responses are being considered carefully during the development of the revised waste strategy which will be published later in 2006. A summary of responses will be made available in summer 2006.

2003/04 and 2005/06

The following table includes recycling performance of English local authorities against 2003-04 and 2005-06 recycling targets:

A few groups of local authorities pooled their targets within their group for 2003/04 and 2005/06:

Elliot Morley announced on 9 December 2004 that Statutory Performance Standards for recycling and composting for 2005/06 would be held at 30%, potentially benefiting local authorities which faced targets higher than this. The reasons for this change are explained below:

Why put a 30% cap on local authority recycling and composting rates for 2005/06?

Holding the Statutory Performance Standards for recycling and composting for 2005/06 at 30% potentially benefits 103 local authorities in England which faced higher targets. The change was aimed at reducing pressure on the highest performers without compromising achievement of the 25% national recycling target. This change gives increased flexibility to authorities, which face the greatest challenge and are making the greatest contribution to national targets. But it does not prevent them from driving towards higher recycling rates in 2005/06 should they wish to do so. The change has been made in recognition of the fact that, while many authorities have been able to deliver and sustain very high levels of recycling, in some circumstances authorities may be unable to deliver this degree of step change in the time available, or could only do so at disproportionate short-term cost.

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Page published: 9 March 2007

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs