Councils are calling for reform of a planned tax on burning
plastic, which they warn could place billions of pounds of
unavoidable costs onto councils over the next decade.
The Emissions Trading Scheme is a system which puts a market
price on carbon emissions. It currently applies to the aviation
industry, and the last government proposed to expand it to the
incineration of waste from 2028, which councils support.
However, they have no powers to reduce the amount of fossil-based
material put on the market, no meaningful levers to reduce the
levels of fossil-based waste sent for incineration, or the
ability to deliver the infrastructure to recycle plastics or
capture carbon.
The Local Government Association warns this could force councils
to cut back services, rather than targeting manufacturers that
have the power to reduce plastic production, in a new report
published today.
The LGA says the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) tax could push
costs onto councils as high as £747 million in 2028, rising to
£1.1 billion in 2036, with a total cost over this period as high
as £6.5 billion.
Ahead of the Spending Review, councils are calling on government
to rapidly review plans for the ETS extension to waste, to
protect local services and to prioritise policy and finance
incentives on producers to design out fossil material.
It comes as a new report by the LGA, which represents councils,
found the new costs would lead to reductions in services
including:
- Nearly 80 percent of councils reducing their overall waste
and recycling services
- A drop in the range of services provided by household
recycling centres in 77 per cent of councils
- Falls in fly-tipping services in 65 per cent, street cleaning
and littering in 63 per cent, and street bins provision in 60 per
cent of councils.
Almost every council expects that the carbon tax would push new
costs onto other council services, according to the report. Two
thirds of councils said the costs would lead to reductions to
local net zero schemes and green energy projects, such as to help
communities put solar panels on rooftops and transition to
electric vehicles, which are designed to cut carbon and costs.
English councils manage 14.3 million tonnes of residual
(non-recycled) waste each year, with the vast majority being
treated at energy-from-waste plants. Of this, the LGA
estimates 5.7 million tonnes is fossil-based plastics.
Instead, councils are calling on government to use the upcoming
Spending Review to ensure the costs are passed on to the
industries creating fossil-based material in the first place –
such as found in packaging, textiles, electricals and furniture –
to encourage them to produce less plastic ending up as
hard-to-recycle waste.
Local government's offer to government around green energy
ambitions is enormous.
To accelerate towards net zero, the Government should adopt a
comprehensive long-term, place-based strategy that reforms the
funding, planning and delivery landscape to unlock the potential
of councils as leaders and conveners with housing, planning,
waste and transport powers.
Cllr Adam Hug, environment spokesperson for the LGA said:
“Councils want to see a reduction in carbon emissions and support
the aims of the scheme, while encouraging recycling efforts, but
to succeed we need to see the right incentive in the right
places.
“Current proposals are hitting the wrong target. It will load
billions of pounds of extra costs onto councils, who will have
little choice but to cut back valued local waste and recycling
services and net zero projects, while producers of fossil-based
material avoid incentives to reduce what they produce.
“The Spending Review is an opportunity for government to review
these proposals and force producers of fossil-based waste to face
up to their responsibilities, by reducing the amount of plastic
entering the market, instead of loading unaffordable extra costs
onto already overstretched local councils.”
Notes to editors
In a separate poll commissioned by the LGA, 64 per cent of the
public say they support a requirement on companies to reduce the
plastic used to make household items that end up as
hard-to-recycle waste, with just 8 per cent opposing a
requirement.
The LGA survey is available on request.
LGA Spending
Review submission
