October 2010 London’s Wasted Resource The Mayor’s Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy Public consultation draft 2 The Mayor’s Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy October 2010 London’s Wasted Resource The Mayor’s Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy Public consultation draft Greater London Authority October 2010 Published by Greater London Authority City Hall The Queen’s Walk More London London SE1 2AA www.london.gov.uk enquiries 020 7983 4100 minicom 020 7983 4458 ISBN 978 1 84781 396 1 Cover photo © Shutterstock Copies of this report are available from www.london.gov.uk Printed on 9Lives 80 paper: 80 per cent recovered fibre and 20 per cent virgin TCF fibre sourced from sustainable forests; FSC and NAPM certified. Contents The Mayor’s Municipal Waste Management Strategy Foreword.............................................................................................................................................7 Executive summary.............................................................................................................................9 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................19 Chapter One: Legislative and policy context ...................................................................................25 Chapter Two: Current performance on managing London’s municipal waste .................................29 Chapter Three: Developing a strategy for London’s municipal waste .............................................45 Chapter Four: The rationale for the Mayor’s approach ...................................................................53 Chapter Five: Delivering change: Policies and proposals ................................................................75 Policy One: Informing producers and consumers of the value of reducing, reusing, and recycling municipal waste...........................................................................75 Policy Two: Setting a CO2 equivalent standard for municipal waste management activities to reduce their impact on climate change...........................................87 Policy Three: Capturing the economic benefits of municipal waste management .........................................................................................103 Policy Four: Achieving high recycling and composing rates resulting in the greatest environmental and financial benefits .................................................113 PolicyFive: Catalysing waste infrastructure, particularly low carbon technologies .............129 Policy Six: Achieving a high level of street cleanliness .....................................................143 Appendices Appendix One: Legislative framework for managing London’s municipal waste Appendix Two: Implementation plan Appendix Three: Contributing towards national waste targets Appendix Four: Independent research informing the Mayor’s municipal waste management strategy a) Economic modelling for the Mayor’s municipal waste management strategy b) Development of a CO2 eq emissions performance standard for the management of London’s municipal waste c) The performance of London’s municipal waste recycling collection services Appendix Five: The Mayor’s preferred approach: assumed waste flows and sources of waste Appendix Six FORS case study: City of London Corporation Appendix Seven: Glossary of terms Foreword by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson London’s waste is a lucrative commodity that Reducing and reusing a significant portion we can no longer afford to simply chuck away. of the material we currently throw away is an The rising cost of using landfill sites along absolute imperative. We must drive down with the need to drastically cut global carbon the volumes of waste produced in the first emissions, means there is a real financial and instance and support both practical and creative environmental imperative to rethink the concept ways to reuse products as much as possible. of rubbish. This requires a shift away from a throwaway culture but will liberate a significant portion The capital produces about four million tonnes of taxpayers’ money currently committed to of municipal waste every year, most of which dealing with rubbish. comes from households and small businesses. Too much of this currently ends up being buried Recycling levels in the capital are steadily for millennia, producing polluting gases or improving, with some boroughs achieving incinerated. Not only does this levy a heavy tax commendable results, but we need to do more. on our environment, it is also a massive missed I want recycling to rapidly become much more economic opportunity for the capital. a part of everyday life whether at home, on the move or in the office. Not only should It does not have to be this way. Our vision is to we routinely recycle paper, glass and cans, stimulate an income from the development of but also food waste and plastics. I want all world leading technologies to produce recycled Londoners to have a level playing field when it materials, generate cleaner energy and to create comes to recycling services, whether they live ‘green collar’ jobs. This will attract investment in the suburbs or inner London, in high rise and dramatically reduce the impact of rubbish flats or multi occupancy buildings, to make the disposal on the environment. By 2025 I want recycling of waste easier than throwing it away. London to be sending zero of its municipal By 2020, London should be recycling half of rubbish to landfill. the waste coming from households, rising to 60 per cent by 2031. I believe this can be done Reaching these ambitious but essential in part by the introduction of strong incentives goals requires a radical re-focus. London’s - carrots rather than sticks - to encourage waste management is complex, involving residents to do the right thing. many organisations. The current system can be unnecessarily confusing for Londoners. The residual waste which cannot be prevented These proposals show how we can develop a in the first place, or put to good use, will be coordinated approach to waste management harvested to create greener energy and fuel. in the capital that will be both clearer for We estimate the economic value of this to be Londoners and more effective. more than £100 million. 8 The Mayor’s Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy By embracing clever, cleaner technologies, we can also develop a greater capacity to deal with London’s waste within our boundaries. These targets are challenging. They require robust action from everyone in London - those that generate waste and those with a shared responsibility to dispose of it. But the rewards are high. I want London to become the best big city on earth, boasting a great quality of life. We can only achieve this if we become a world leader in how we manage the waste we generate. I look forward to hearing Londoners’ views on the proposals contained here. Boris Johnson Mayor of London Executive summary The world of waste is changing. The past 20 which release methane (a powerful greenhouse years has seen the public, private and third gas) as it decomposes. In total, the municipal sector invest considerable amounts of time, waste that London sends to landfill generates money and effort into changing the way we approximately 465,000 tonnes of greenhouse think about and manage our waste. gas emissions each year, expressed as a carbon 1 dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) figure . Reducing the amount of waste produced and reusing waste that cannot be prevented There is a massive opportunity for London to presents the greatest economic and achieve significant greenhouse gas savings environmental benefits for London. We cannot by diverting more municipal waste away from continue to manage waste by investing in landfill. Most of the waste we throw away expensive waste collection and treatment could be reused, recycled or composted, or infrastructure without implementing an active used to generate renewable energy, which strategy of reduction and reuse. The Mayor will would achieve significant CO2eq savings. By set out in this document what actions London’s first reducing the amount of municipal waste households and businesses can produced and then selecting the optimal means take to reduce waste – but will also call on for dealing with the municipal waste sent to the government and industry to play a role. landfill, London could save approximately 1.5 million tonnes of CO2eq emissions each Developing a strategy for London’s year. This significant saving is a combination municipal waste of avoiding the emissions that would have There are a number of key considerations occurred from sending waste to landfill plus influencing the Mayor’s municipal waste further savings of approximately one million management strategy. The overriding one tonnes achieved by avoiding emissions involved is the need to manage London’s municipal in manufacturing from virgin materials, and waste more effectively and efficiently. The in generating energy from coal or gas. This is rising cost of landfill, growing concerns around equivalent to avoiding the emissions associated energy and climate change, emergence of new with powering London’s Underground Network commercially available waste technologies, and each year, plus avoiding emissions from all of changing consumer behaviour have all made a London’s registered taxis2 . ‘business as usual’ approach no longer viable. Climate change is one of the key drivers for