TV mountain will cost council taxpayer £27m - LGA

LGA news release - 1 July 2007

Council tax payers face an £27m TV mountain bill, council leaders will warn at the Local Government Association's annual conference this week.

This is a result of Government inaction and a u-turn by Industry on take-back schemes for old electrical appliances.

From 1 July a new law means manufacturers and high street retailers will be responsible for ensuring that all electrical goods are recycled rather than disposed of in landfill. The law makes clear that producers, not council tax payers, must pay.

The Government has had four years to make sure the new law, known as the WEEE Directive, is properly transferred into national law. Councils have been recycling used electrical appliances since August 2005 when the new EU regulations were meant to be implemented. Authorities have been able to claim back the money spent on disposing of waste electrical appliances from the DTI, but this will end when the new law begins on Sunday.

From today (Sunday) householders will be expected to take their old electrical items to council civic amenity sites. The old TVs and computers should then be collected by a manufacturer and recycled.

However, an Industry u-turn just a few weeks ago means around 250 council recycling centres will not be partnered with a manufacturer scheme in time. This means councils, and therefore council taxpayers, will have to pay an estimated £18m for the facilities to collect and recycle old TVs, DVDs, home computers, kettles and toasters. Local authorities do not know when, or from whom, the £18m will be reimbursed.

The Industry's last minute change of plan has also opened the floodgates for any take-back scheme operator to try and partner with any council. As a result authorities have been left to deal with a very complex selection process costing valuable time and council tax payer's money.

Councils are also concerned that no provision has been made for the annual running costs of civic amenity sites, estimated at around £9m a year.

Cllr Paul Bettison, Chairman of the LGA Environment Board, said:

"It's outrageous that council tax payers will end up footing a £18m bill to collect and recycle used TVs, DVDs, washers and home computers for manufacturers. The Government has had four years to make sure the new law is transferred and fully workable. The recent Industry u-turn means a quarter of council recycling centres will not be matched with a retailer take-back scheme in time. Councils don't know by whom or when the money will be paid back.

"The u-turn has left councils dealing with a very complex selection process trying to choose the right take back scheme to partner with. Originally, every council was going to be automatically matched with a manufacturer. This wouldn't have cost the council tax payer a penny.

"Retailers have only agreed to pay councils a maximum one-off payment of £9,000 a site. This may not cover set up costs and will not pay for annual running costs estimated at £9m a year.

"Councils are on the frontline in the fight against climate change and working hard with local people to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. The new law makes very clear it must be producers that pay to dispose of electric waste. It is unacceptable that the council tax payer is having to shoulder any of the burden for a new scheme that producers should be paying for in full."