ReFood director slams Labour refusal to ban sending food waste to landfill
Philip Simpson, who heads the Prosper De Mulder group’s food waste recycling division including ReFood, called the party’s decision “hugely disappointing”.
He said: “In the next five years, landfill sites across the UK will be nearing capacity, which makes minimising the volume of unnecessary waste and increasing recycling figures absolutely essential.
“By failing to implement proper legislation, England is falling behind other EU nations, including its UK counterparts, and this is simply due to a lack of support from those in power.
“Gaining clear commitment is a stumbling block we’ve been looking to overcome for a number of years now, but one that must be overcome in order to both meet waste targets and offset depleting landfill space.”
Labour’s position on the matter was established after the Conservatives published a cost analysis report examining how much Labour would have to spend to keep to its policy pledges.
But Labour officials were quick to debunk claims made in what shadow chancellor Ed Balls called a “dodgy Tory dossier”, including the implementation of a food waste to landfill ban which would cost an estimated £447m over the 2015/2016 tax year.
Mr Simpson said: “Changing tactics due to a lack of revenue from landfill tax is a short sighted approach, ignoring the monies that could be raised by having a ban in place.
“In providing stimulation to a growing industry with a guarantee of feedstock, new businesses, more recycling contracts and more employment will generate their own taxes for the public purse.
However, Labour claimed that the notion it would implement the ban was based on an “out of date quote” issued by the previous shadow environment sectary Mary Creagh in 2013.
A statement issued by the party said: “This is not Labour’s policy – it was not agreed at Labour’s National Policy Forum in July 2014 and is not in the NPF document.”
Ms Creagh had told a Foodservice Packaging Assosciation conference her party was considering banning the sending of food waste to landfill as part of its manifesto for the upcoming election.
"Valuable resource"
Mr Simpson concluded: “Food is a valuable resource and shouldn’t be squandered.
“Instead, it can be turned into renewable energy – for which we have national targets – and nutrient-rich fertiliser for use on new crops, making the food chain not only highly efficient, but also environmentally-friendly and self-sufficient.
“Ultimately, we need to achieve behavioural change across businesses, local authorities and individuals to increase recycling in the UK but, without wider government support, this will be unachievable.”
