Legislation & regulation
The Waste Framework Directive
Traditionally the UK has been heavily reliant on landfill. Of a total 28.2 million tonnes of municipal waste produced in 2000/01, 79% (about 23 million tonnes) was landfilled. The waste we produce in the UK is growing by about 3% every year. This is more than the growth in GDP (2-2.5%) and one of the fastest European growth rates for waste.
The Waste Framework Directive has been fundamental in driving national policies and the development of plans to move the UK away from its dependence on landfill. Part of this has included the creation of the Landfill Directive which is enforcing the diversion of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) from landfill. The UK has targets to meet in this area and these include achieving 35% of 1995 levels by 2020.
Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS)
Tying in with the targets of the Landfill Directive, the LATS system sees progressively tighter restrictions on the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) - defined as paper, food and garden waste - that disposal authorities can landfill.
The LATS system works by councils being set allowances on the amount of biodegradable material they can send to landfill. The allowances are tradable, so that high landfilling authorities can buy more allowances if they expect to landfill more than the allowances they hold. Similarly, authorities with low landfill rates can sell their surplus allowances. Local Authorities that do not meet their targets to divert biodegradable MSW from landfill will then be fined £150 for every tonne they landfill beyond the limit set by the allowances they hold.
Renewables Obligation
This legislation places an obligation on licensed electricity suppliers to source a specific and annually increasing percentage of the electricity they supply from renewable sources (which includes the BIOGEN process). The current target is 6.7% for 2006/07 rising to 15.4% by 2015/16. It is expected that the Renewables Obligation, together with exemption from the Climate Change Levy for electricity from renewables, will provide support to industry of up to £1billion per year by 2010.
