The Mayor of London published the Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy ‘London’s Wasted Resource’ in January this year. There are a number of proposals within the strategy, currently out for consultation, which we believe will particularly affect the public and private sector. We are encouraging our clients and wider contacts to consider the effects of these proposals on current activities and future development plans and to respond to the consultation. The consultation ends on 15 March 2010.
The Mayor has stated that he wants no increase in ‘London’s mass burn incineration capacity’. He has also said that he is keen for waste authorities to share in the revenue generated by recyclable materials and energy from waste and also to explore the opportunity to own facilities. These proposals are important in relation to future of PFI projects in London. They also present opportunities for the private sector if willing to take a flexible approach when seeking to enter into contracts with the public sector and if developing privately funded community-sized facilities applying advanced conversion technologies.
The Mayor’s interest in revenue sharing and publicly owned facilities may be driven by the desire to save money or the desire to generate revenue. We are interested to know how these facilities might be funded and managed. We question the willingness of waste authorities to risk-share as well as revenue-share (given what happened when the markets crashed late 2008 and in light of other significant fluctuations in commodity prices).
The Mayor is proposing to work with the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) ‘to help boroughs provide recycling and composting collection services to small businesses comparable to those services provided by households’. This is likely to have significant implications for the private sector currently servicing these clients and those currently servicing local authority municipal collections as well as for the role of LWARB.
Sauce Consultancy has prepared a summary of the Strategy. Please call us on 020 7061 6351 or email info@sauceconsultancy.co.uk if you wish to receive a copy of this by email. Remember, the consultation ends on 15 March, and we would be happy to support preparation of responses.
By Nicki Chennells
Tags: composting, consultation, Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy, London Waste and Recycling Board, London’s Wasted Resource, LWARB, Mayor, PFI, recycling, waste authorities
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