Figures released lately show that all Local Authorities in Wales have achieved their 2010 targets to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill a year early. Welcoming the results published by Environment Agency Wales, Environment Minister Jane Davidson said: “These new figures are great news and show how councils are making significant progress in changing the way we deal with our waste. Every Welsh local authority has now met this first EU target a year early. This is an excellent achievement. I want to congratulate all of them for all their hard work and commitment."

And she added: “I now want to build on this progress. The increase in the recycling of separately collected food waste will be vital for Local Authorities to meet the next EU target set for 2013. Councils who exceed their targets face significant fines, which would not be good for the taxpayer.”

Over the past two years the Welsh Assembly Government has provided Local Authorities with an extra £24 million to prepare for the collection and treatment of household waste. Eighteen of the twenty two councils in Wales are now operating food waste collection services.

2010 is the first Landfill Directive Target year when Wales will need to report to the EU on its LAS performance. Any Local Authorities who exceed their targets face severe financial penalties.

The new figures come from a report produced by Environment Agency Wales in its role as monitoring authority for the Landfill Allowances Scheme.

All Local Authorities in Wales are now currently within their 2009/10 allowances, compared to 2007/8 where only 11 Local Authorities were within their 2009/10 targets. Wales is 16 percent (110,297 tonnes) below the first Landfill Directive target year allowance in 2009/10.

The report highlights how councils in Wales sent 599,703 tonnes of biodegradable waste to landfill in 2008/9, compared to the landfill allowance allocation of 788,000 tonnes, showing a reduction of 154,879 tonnes of biodegradable waste landfilled across Wales over the past two years.

The report can be downloaded under environment-agency.gov.uk.

Quelle: Welsh Assembly Government

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