The Act Commentary on Sections Part 5: Waste Section 49 Payments for waste recycling and disposal
159.Prior to section 49 coming into force, section 52 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 imposed a duty on waste disposal authorities to make payments to waste collection authorities in their area. It provided for payments to be made by both tiers to third parties where waste is retained for recycling. The purpose of these payments was to offset any disincentive to recycle by making available to recyclers the savings in disposal and collection costs in respect of waste retained.
160.That system was introduced before many of the other policy levers designed to encourage recycling were put in place, and needed reform to bring it in to line. Particular issues were: increasing payment costs to waste disposal authorities; the inflexible system of payments between waste collection and waste disposal authorities; re-use not incentivised in same way as recycling; payments to third parties being inconsistently administered; and, planned reform of the Joint Waste Disposal Authority levy will negate the need for payments to waste collection authorities in these areas.
161.Section 49 amends section 52 of the 1990 Act to give the Secretary of State the power to make regulations in England to set the method of calculation of the payments. This will allow calculations to take into account increasing disposal costs due to diversion from landfill and the rising rate of landfill tax.
162.Section 52(1A) gives the Secretary of State the power to disapply by order the duty on a Joint Waste Disposal Authority to make payments to a waste collection authority in respect of waste collected and retained for recycling. This will allow removal of the duty once the levy system in these areas is reformed to directly incentivise recycling by the waste collection authorities.
163.Section 52(1B) exempts a waste disposal authority in England from the duty to make payments to a waste collection authority in respect of waste retained by the waste collection authority where the two authorities agree to alternative arrangements. Where no such mutually agreed arrangements are in place the duty to make payments applies.
164.Section 52(8A) gives the Secretary of State the power to produce guidance to assist English waste collection and disposal authorities in determining whether to make payments to third parties in respect of waste collected for the purpose of recycling.
165.Section 52(12) clarifies that payments should be made in respect of all waste recycled including waste which is re-used with or without undergoing any treatment.