ETS expansion could lead to waste service cuts, warn councils

Councils warn expanding the Emissions Trading Scheme to include waste incineration could place ‘billions of pounds of unavoidable costs’ onto them over the next decade.

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is a system which puts a market price on carbon emissions. It currently applies to the aviation industry, and the last government proposed to expand it to the incineration of waste from 2028.

The Local Government Association (LGA) said councils support the expansion but have ‘no meaningful levers’ to reduce the levels of fossil-based waste sent for incineration.

The LGA says the ETS tax could push costs onto councils as high as £747 million in 2028, rising to £1.1 billion in 2036, with a total cost over this period as high as £6.5 billion.

The LGA warns this could force councils to cut back services, instead of targeting manufacturers that produce plastic, in a new report.

Current proposals are hitting the wrong target.

Councils are calling on the UK Government to review plans for the ETS extension to waste to protect local services and prioritise policy and finance incentives on producers to design out fossil-based materials.

The LGA’s report found the new costs would lead to nearly 80% of councils reducing their overall waste and recycling services and a drop in the range of services provided by household recycling centres in 77% of councils.

The report found there would also be a fall in fly-tipping services in 65%, street cleaning and littering in 63%, and street bins provision in 60% of councils.

Cllr Adam Hug, environment spokesperson for the LGA, commented: “Councils want to see a reduction in carbon emissions and support the aims of the scheme, while encouraging recycling efforts, but to succeed we need to see the right incentive in the right places.

“Current proposals are hitting the wrong target. It will load billions of pounds of extra costs onto councils, who will have little choice but to cut back valued local waste and recycling services and net zero projects, while producers of fossil-based material avoid incentives to reduce what they produce.”

Hug continued that the UK Government’s Spending Review is an opportunity to review the proposals and ensure manufacturers reduce the amount of fossil-based waste they produce.

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