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Incentives for recycling by households draft guidance for comment

Powers in the Climate Change Bill establish a legal framework for up to five local authorities to pilot waste incentives schemes. To complement this, we intend to issue guidance to assist local authorities in designing and running successful schemes.

Further background on waste incentive schemes can be found at:

Consultation on Recycling Service Guidance

Defra consulted informally in June on six pieces of guidance, which covered application and designation, technical issues, finance, coverage and disadvantaged groups, fly tipping prevention, and recycling service. More information on these can be found below.

Defra further consulted on the recycling service guidance, which concerns the kerbside recycling service which should be in place before a local authority may introduce a waste incentive pilot scheme. The guidance proposes criteria that authorities wishing to pilot a scheme must meet. The definition of a ‘good’ service in the guidance applies only to the incentive pilots, and is not intended as a more general definition. 

The recycling service guidance has a different legal status to the other guidance, because the legislation makes it a precondition that any authority running an incentive pilot has a “good recycling service” in place. The consultation ran from 16 September to 14 November 2008 and the finalised guidance is now available.

Guidance

We consulted informally in June on 6 pieces of guidance, intended to help authorities with the design and implementation of pilot schemes. This informal consultation, which also sought comments on the recycling service guidance, closed in July. Links to the five other pieces of guidance can be found below.

Please contact us at waste.incentives@defra.gov.gsi.uk if you have any queries or would like hard copies of the draft guidance.

Please see bottom of page for the Department’s confidentiality statement regarding consultations

Application and Designation Guidance – This draft guidance sets out what criteria the Government will use in assessing local authority pilot proposals and selecting areas to run pilots. It also explains how authorities should submit pilot proposals, what information they will need to provide and how the designation process works.

Technical Issues Guidance – This draft guidance primarily considers four possible main models for waste incentives schemes – sack-based schemes, bin volume, frequency of collection and weight.

Finance Guidance – This draft guidance provides examples of how rebate only and charge and rebate schemes can be structured. It covers issues including revenue neutrality, accounting, billing, collection of outstanding charges and appeals.

Coverage and Disadvantaged Groups Guidance – This draft guidance identifies some issues which authorities might want to consider when deciding which people, properties and areas might be included in an incentive scheme; and how to take account of groups which could be unduly disadvantaged.

Unauthorised deposit or disposal Guidance – This draft guidance aims to help local authorities who want to implement an incentive scheme develop a strategy for ‘preventing, minimising, or otherwise dealing with the unauthorised deposit or disposal of waste.’

Monitoring and evaluation

It is essential that we gather high quality evidence from the pilot waste incentive schemes in order to report back to Parliament, and to establish whether powers to run similar schemes should be made available to all local authorities in England. It is likely that we will wish to consider some of the environmental, social and economic impacts of schemes, as well as the efficiency of their administration.

Confidentiality statement

In line with Defra's policy of openness, at the end of the consultation period copies of the responses we receive may be made publicly available through the Defra Information Resource Centre, Lower Ground Floor, Ergon House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR. The information they contain may also be published in a summary of responses.

If you do not consent to this, you must clearly request that your response be treated confidentially. Any confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system in e-mail responses will not be treated as such a request. You should also be aware that there may be circumstances in which Defra will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations.

The Information Resource Centre will supply copies of consultation responses to personal callers or in response to telephone or e-mail requests (tel: 020 7238 6575, e-mail: defra.library@defra.gsi.gov.uk). Wherever possible, personal callers should give the library at least 24 hours' notice of their requirements. An administrative charge will be made to cover photocopying and postage costs.

Page modified: 27 March 2009
Page published: 20 June 2008