§ Lord Evans of Parksideasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have to change the way in which statutory joint waste disposal authorities are funded currently. [HL1327]
§ Baroness HaymanWe are concerned about current funding arrangements for statutory Joint Waste Disposal Authorities (JWDAs). At the moment, the constituent authorities share the costs according to their shares of the council tax base. This system does not reflect the service each authority draws from the JWDA and provides little encouragement for waste minimisation or other sustainable methods of waste management. The JWDAs have also expressed similar concerns to us.
Under a tonnage-based system, authorities' contributions would be apportioned on the basis of the amount of waste they had delivered for disposal in a preceding period. The more successful they are in minimising waste and diverting it to other forms of sustainable waste management such as recycling and composting, the less they would deliver for disposal and the less they would pay. This will form one more element in our policy to encourage waste management options higher up the waste hierarchy.
We have therefore requested officials in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions to work out methods for a tonnage based system and to discuss them with the local authority associations.