Tories continuing with the scorched earth policy. This will push costs onto Labour when they come into power. Or criticism when they have to reverse this.
There is no appreciation of facilities to either remove or process this new waste segmentation. There is no budget being allocated to the plan as is indicated by the term “reasonable funding”. It very much looks like we are going to see nothing but a gremlin approach to improving the state of the UK until these people are resigned to history.
My opinion is that this is not about a preference of procedure, but just an act created to add barriers to good governance once the Tories are gone. Coffee has added an implementation date of 2026. She may still be an MP considering she currently holds a near 20,000 safety net, but she will not be in any position to push the agenda on this one. What you can guarantee is that the Tories will jump all over Labour for their anti-NZ policies when they drop this.
But Labour shouldn’t drop it. It may well be an attempt at hanging an albatross around an incoming government’s neck, but it’s a reasonably good idea. It should have happened years ago, hell, even within the same authority there is inconsistency.
Now, one of the huge hurdles to implementation of items in the plan like “garden waste collection for all homes” is the cuts to local government funding; which Labour must seek to reverse if they are to have any chance of success in their term. Simply put, there’s too much country to run, to achieve what they want to achieve, if they don’t start helping councils meet their statutory obligations without having to sacrifice local services.
Bits of this policy will, and should be rejigged with time, but the principle is sound enough.
And now that I’ve defended Coffee, I’m off to drink bleach.
You realise a lot of the stuff that is said to be recycled just isn’t. We only recycle 45% of the recycled waste we produce. Funding needs to be added to infrastructure and implementation before adding more recycled waste into the programme. This is nothing more than a Tory idea to add to the cost of councils. The Tories have spent years taking funding out of projects and running them down. Now they know they are going out the door, this has changed on its head.
That doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth trying to set targets for improved services. This takes the decision out of shortsighted local council hands, and yes, it will squeeze them, but legislation like this can be pushed back, it can be amended, it can be improved, and critically, if there is a new government in power, money can be made available to enable the transition. Not everything is some master conspiracy, this is just the Tories trying to look green and knowing they won’t actually have to cost or support it. It’s shitty politics, but that doesn’t make it a heinous idea to strive for.
Most want a green culture. I am onboard with that. An intelligent green culture has to be how we go though. This is not an intelligent approach. Councils are not just squeezed; they are going bankrupt. Adding to that cost with ideas that have no end game is crass, and this has no end game.
As for the conspiracy theory context, this is a Tory agenda not mine. They have achieved nothing in the last 13 years. What makes you think that they have an intention to change that in what could possibly their last six months in office? This comes from Coffey, the most lazy and inept of them all. She has trashed every dept she has had her hands on. There is no white paper on this. There has been no plan put into place to facilitate it. Show me the plan then you can talk about how well it can be implemented.
This is the government statement on the matter. Everything in it is about “simplifying collections”. There is not a single policy regarding disposal or increase to infrastructure. There is a policy to add more red tape to digital waste. That is where it lies dead in the water. This story has only one aim and that is for political agenda after they are out of office, hence the 2026 date for implementation.