Exclusive: Government poised to slash waste strategy spending

The government is considering slashing spending on its waste strategy by more than half, despite repeated commitments to cut the UK's waste levels and the ongoing threat of EU fines if landfill targets are missed.

BusinessGreen.com has obtained a copy of a budget summary prepared by the Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) in March this year, which reveals the department was proposing cutting spending on its waste strategy from £117.1m in 2009/10 to £53.9m in 2010/2011.

The document also reveals officials were contemplating freezing the budget for the government-backed business advisory body the Waste Resources Action Programme (Wrap), despite the fact the organisation will from next year take responsibility for several other agencies as part of previously announced rationalisation plans.

The figures show Wrap's budget has fallen from a high of £68.2m in 2005/06 to £40m in 2008/09. Its budget was frozen at £40m for 2009/10 and preliminary figures show spending will remain the same next year.

The document states that the 2010/11 figures are not for public release and that the final budget settlements are "yet to be decided". However, with Whitehall under intense pressure to cut budgets to help tackle the UK's national debt, waste programmes look likely to receive significantly reduced budgets.

Wrap is preparing to take responsibility for six other business support agencies from next year and a scaling back of services appears inevitable if budgets are to remain frozen.

Environment minister Hilary Benn announced in March this year that the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme, Envirowise, The Centre for Remanufacturing & Reuse, Construction Resources and Waste Platform, Action Sustainability and the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste Centre for local authorities would all be brought under the auspices of Wrap to streamline business support services.

The leaked budget summary is bound to anger businesses and councils working with the government to reduce waste levels, particularly given the belief in some quarters that the plan to turn Wrap into a "super agency" was primarily driven by the desire to cut spending and plug a £1bn hole in Defra's budget caused by a string of failed IT projects, animal health scares and flooding.

A spokeswoman for Wrap sought to downplay the implications of the preliminary figures. "We have not had our budget for next year finalised by Defra," she said. "That is the only number that matters. We are not able to speculate on it. "

The budget outline will also raise fresh questions over the effectiveness of the government's waste strategy as it battles to promote waste-to-energy technologies, boost material reuse, and meet EU targets requiring the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill to fall 25 per cent by 2010 and 50 per cent by 2013 on 1995 levels.

A National Audit Office report released earlier this year warned that the government's failure to accelerate the rollout of recycling facilities meant the UK was at risk of missing the 2013 target, while the Local Government Association has repeatedly warned that any fines that result from missing landfill targets are likely to be passed on to taxpayers in the form of higher taxes.

One industry source said that the document suggested the government was failing to back up its rhetoric on cutting waste level with consistent investment. "It seems they are saying one thing and doing another," they said.

Elsewhere, the budget summary reveals the government is planning to make good on pledges to bolster spending on flood defences, proposing a 7.5 per cent increase in the Environment Agency's flood management budget from £612.5m this year to £659m in 2010/11.

However, the agency's recent efforts to crack down on breaches of environmental legislation could also come under pressure, with the document revealing that Defra has considered cutting its environmental protection budget from £150.1m to £147.3m.

A spokeswoman for Defra said the department could not comment on internal documents.