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NEWS October 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 5 FOR MORE NEWS AND ANALYSIS VISIT www.edie.net /waste Ireland's Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly has strongly criticised the private domestic waste collection industry, alleging it has become involved in a "race to the bottom". The Labour Party deputy leader was speaking at the Environment Ireland Conference in Croke Park last month when he made the remarks, in his first major speech on waste policy. Although he said he was an advocate of competition in the market, Kelly said that Ireland moved too quickly from a situation where overstretched local authorities had full responsibility for municipal waste collection to one where the market has become completely privatised. He said: "This is the worst of both worlds in my view. And it has to change. A far smoother transition would have been possible, had we moved from local authority direct provision to competition for the market. "If I was starting with a blank page, I would instruct local authorities to do just that or some variation of it. However, we find ourselves in a different situation currently." One of the concerns Kelly raised was the "level of below-cost selling, the so-called 'race to the bottom' and the environmental damage that can arise from this". He said this race to the bottom is having a destabilising effect on the market. He said that this was having an impact on all stakeholders. Minister criticises Ireland's waste collection sector Public shape recycling document Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) has pro- duced a report, entitled 'The Ur bin) Issue', to improve urban recycling performance across England with help from members of the public The Ur(bin) Issue presents the results of a public inquiry, con- ducted by KBT, which sought to find new ways to improve recycling rates in urban environments across England. This project was commissioned and sponsored by recycling and resource management company SITA UK. To involve members of the pub- lic, KBT and social research agency, Britain Thinks, hosted two Citizens' Juries (one in Lewisham and one in Manchester) giving members of the community the opportunity to discuss and debate the subject of recycling with a panel of industry experts or "expert witnesses". At each session, members of the public were asked about their initial attitudes towards recycling before, on the second day, putting together informed action plans to improve recycling in their areas. The recommendations in the action plans were then tested by KBT in an online poll of 1,000 peo- ple living across the country, to determine whether or not they were widely supported. Based on the feedback from resi- dents and responses to the poll, three clear over-arching elements emerged that are needed to help improve recycling – engagement (providing good quality, accessible, informa- tion to empower people and change attitudes); motivation (to reinforce positive behaviours); and infrastruc- ture to support those attitudes and behaviours. Based on the jurors' actions plans and the three key elements above, Keep Britain Tidy has produced a ten-point action plan to improve urban recycling performance across England. The ten action points are aimed at a range of stakeholders in the recy- cling process and include actions such as enabling councils to intro- duce a tax rebate for recycling more and reducing waste. SITA UK's Gev Eduljee said that more needs to be done to engage urbanites with recycling. Austerity survey CHARITY BOOST - Viridor and its construction partners are working flat out to complete its Peterborough Energy Recovery Facility (ERF). To mark their 100,000 man-hours achievement, the company has donated £1,000 to the Sue Ryder appeal to build a new hospice. Local authorities throughout the UK and Ireland are being urged to respond to a survey to gather data relating to the impacts of auster- ity measures on councils' waste, recycling and street cleansing services. Organisations that work with local authorities are also being asked to comment on the impacts of the cuts that they have seen. The project is being delivered by sustainability consultancy, Ricardo-AEA, on behalf of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM). Ricardo-AEA practice direc- tor for Resource Efficiency and Waste Management, Adam Read said: "The survey's findings will provide a valuable insight into the impact of waste management policies and will highlight best practice for future decision-mak- ing. We've designed the survey to be simple to complete and would encourage all local authorities... to take part." Public get involved in KBT study to improve urban recycling

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