Latest news with #EnvironmentAct2021
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Walsall residents to be given new food waste bins
Food waste collections will be coming to Walsall following approval at a meeting of the cabinet last night. Households will be issued with one small kitchen caddy and one larger kerbside caddy per household, with the larger kerbside caddy being emptied weekly. READ MORE: Police chief to meet councillors after Walsall crime increase The service will vary at properties which have communal bins, but the collection will still take place weekly. It is mandatory for all local authorities to introduce food waste collections by March 31, 2026, under the Environment Act 2021. Walsall Council cabinet members met on April 16 to approve the new service which is estimated to require additional revenue funding of £1.7m. Now, portfolio holder for street pride, councillor Kerry Murphy and executive executive director for economy, environment and communities, Dave Brown, will seek to award the various contracts for the supply of caddies, the waste collection vehicles, and the food waste disposal. According to Walsall Council, food waste collections could remove around 6,000 – 10,000 tonnes of waste from going to landfill, depending on residents' participation. A review took place in 2023 analysing what Walsall residents put in their green recycling bins and grey residual bins. It found that food waste made up 40 per cent of what we put in our grey bins, equating to 28,500 tonnes, and nearly a third of that food waste was still in its original packaging. Once the service has started, the food waste that is collected from Walsall households will be sent to a treatment facility where it is used to create fertiliser and biogas by a process known as anaerobic digestion. The cost per tonne for disposal of food waste via anaerobic digestion is less than that for incineration or landfill and can be carried out within the Birmingham region. The biogas produced can be used to generate green electricity or power vehicles, while the fertiliser is used in agriculture. Councillor Kerry Murphy said: 'From March next year, we've got to bring in statutory weekly food collections. It is something we've got to do. 'Forty per cent of our waste that goes into our bin is food waste, and the government believes this will help improve the amount going to landfill.' Councillor Mark Statham, deputy leader and portfolio holder for finance at Walsall Council said: 'I wholeheartedly support and welcome the recommendations as set out in the report. 'It's very good to see the operational plans way in advance of the service introduction. We're well in front of the eight ball in terms of preparing for it, and that's to be commended. Failing to plan is planning to fail.' Councillor Andrian Andrew, deputy leader and portfolio holder for regeneration, said: 'I'm sure that we will, with this new endeavour of food waste collection, educate people in the borough about how much food we are actually wasting. 'In the past Walsall has certainly led the way when it came to waste collection and recycling. We're investing into the waste transfer station in order to future proof our waste collection services here. 'This is something the administration and the council should be proud of when you hear about what's happening in other parts of the region.'
BBC News
25-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Calls to halt fortnightly Birmingham bin collections as strike goes on
The ongoing bin strike in Birmingham means the plan to introduce fortnightly collections should be called off, opposition councillors industrial action in the city is over the Labour-run city council's plans to downgrade some staff and reduce their pay as part of bids to shore up the troubled authority's a letter addressed to the cabinet member for the environment, Conservative councillors requested the move from weekly to fortnightly bin collections be suspended until authority spokesperson said it was still "considering its options" on delaying the rollout, as a result of strike action by members of the union Unite. They also explained the move to a fortnightly collection of household rubbish would be introduced alongside weekly food waste collections and a second recycling bin specifically for recycling paper and would increase the amount of waste recycled and comply with the Environment Act 2021, the spokesperson added. 'Significant disruption and uncertainty' The strike action, involving more than 400 bin workers, has been happening on and off since has left rubbish piled high on streets across the city, with reports that rubbish has attracted rats and other a letter addressed to Majid Mahmood, the council's cabinet member for environment, Conservative councillors wrote that Brummies were already grappling with "significant disruption and uncertainty"."Adding a major overhaul to collection schedules will exacerbate an already untenable situation for households across the city," the shadow cabinet members added that fortnightly collections would be a "double whammy" amidst the burden of the strikes."We urge you to pause this plan until the industrial action is settled, the streets are cleaned and normal service resumes," the letter added."We believe that summer of 2026 is the earliest possible practical timeframe to allow the council to properly plan for this." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Guardian
20-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Watchdog investigating whether Defra breaking laws on cleaning up English rivers
The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) watchdog has launched an investigation into the UK government over potential failures to clean up England's rivers under EU-derived laws. The OEP published a report last year saying that plans to clean up waterways were too generic and did not address specific issues at individual sites. It said plans were being put in place despite low government confidence that their objectives could be achieved. The watchdog will now look at whether those issues represent failures by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to comply with environmental law. The OEP was set up after Brexit. It holds the government to account under the Environment Act 2021, which was passed to replace EU law as a means of holding ministers to account on environmental standards. The OEP found in its report that water regulations were not being followed, meaning targets to clean up England's rivers by 2027 were very likely to be missed. While in the EU, England was covered by the water framework directive (WFD), and a national chemical and ecological survey of rivers was conducted annually. After Brexit, England diverged from EU water monitoring standards and transposed the WFD into English law. Since 2016, the government started testing water quality under WFD every three years rather than annually. In 2019, the last time the full water assessments took place, just 14% of rivers were in good ecological health and none met standards for good chemical health. The next results are due this year. The EU has been strengthening testing under the WFD, adding 12 new pollutants to its watchlist. The Labour government has said its independent water commission, due to report in coming months, will assess the efficiency of the directive, and there is potential that the UK will further diverge from it. A previous Guardian investigation found that the UK has diverged from multiple EU environmental laws since Brexit, and in most cases the legislation has been weakened, leaving nature less protected. Helen Venn, the OEP's chief regulatory officer, said they were awaiting the results of the independent water commission. She added: 'But we also believe that more urgent actions may be needed. We are concerned that there is an indication of potential failures to comply with environmental laws which are having ongoing negative consequences for water bodies, and this is why the important targets for water quality are highly likely to be missed. 'Even with all the other activities taking place, none involve firm commitments to address the issues we have identified, and the timeline and extent of any resulting changes are currently uncertain. Clarifying the requirements under the current regulations can help drive action to ensure those targets for water bodies are met as quickly as possible.' A Defra spokesperson said: 'This government is determined to clean up our polluted rivers, lakes and seas as part of our plan for change. We have put water companies under tough special measures with new powers to ban the payment of bonuses to polluting water bosses and bring criminal charges against lawbreakers. 'We have also launched an independent water commission, which is looking at widespread water sector reform including the effectiveness of the water framework directive. 'We welcome the OEP's support for the commission and share their commitment to improve water quality. We will work constructively with them on this investigation.'
BBC News
06-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
Nature strategy in Northamptonshire to help rare bees and voles
Rare species of bees, voles and dormice are among the creatures earmarked for protection in a new environmental Northamptonshire Council is only the second in the country to publish a nature recovery strategy, which is now required by plan also involves restoring and protecting wetlands and council said it would help create a "thriving natural environment that supports wildlife [and] improves our quality of life". The Environment Act 2021 requires nature recovery strategies to be created for every part of plans have to include a map of local habitats and a statement of "biodiversity priorities" for the Northamptonshire Council has become the first in its region and the second in the country to publish its strategy. Several species have been identified as needing special protection, including the hazel dormouse, which could be encouraged to thrive by the use of nest boxes and reintroducing or relocating the animals. Mink populations could be controlled or even eradicated to allow the reintroduction of water voles, and grassland could be connected to other habitat to support the rare red-shanked carder Richard Cormont, from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said: "The red-shanked carder bumblebee is a species which has declined for decades and is now thinly spread across southern England and Wales. "So it's great to see a large-scale grasslands-focused approach which will be key for the species in the county." With a third of the area's woodland currently unmanaged, one of the priorities is connecting and expanding woodland to create "a mosaic of habitats that support a range of species".Landowners are being told the strategy is not about "telling people what to do"- it aims to provide options for land use. John Torlesse, the deputy director of Natural England's West Anglia team, said: "Congratulations to North Northamptonshire Council and all those organisations and people who have been involved in creating this strategy."We now need to get behind its delivery, and Natural England is committed to doing all it can to support that."Helen Harrison, the council's executive member for green environment, said: "This strategy is about joined up, collaborative action."Together, we can achieve a thriving natural environment that supports wildlife, improves our quality of life, and contributes to the global fight against biodiversity loss." Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
