International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

disputes (and the time taken to resolve them) highlight the fact that the law is
insufficiently clear.
In this context, we suggest that there is a need to strengthen the demarcation of local
authority roles in respect of different waste streams. One possible reason that
tensions arise in the collection market is that no one seems entirely sure (until the
courts decide) who has the right to compete in which market. In addition, the local
authorities’ power to direct waste appears to be being used to direct commercial
waste collected by commercial collectors into facilities in which the local authorities
may have a significant commercial interest. We suggest that the market needs to be
clearly delineated as follows:
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1. Local authorities will become responsible for (directly, or through tendering)
household waste collection. They will also have responsibility for, and would
choose whether to procure facilities, or capacity at existing facilities, for the
treatment and disposal of the waste so collected. In other words, they would
be expected to direct household waste to specific facilities. The issue
regarding waivers for low-income households would effectively become one for
local authorities to address in the context of their role in organising service
delivery;
2. A very different situation would prevail in respect of commercial waste
collection. The local authority would have no powers of direction over this
waste. A collection market would remain for commercial and industrial waste.
The market, suitably configured (with a residual waste levy in place, alongside
the EPA’s Guidance on Pre-treatment, and requirements to sort waste on the
part of businesses) would be left to determine how this waste was treated. The
market would also be expected to provide the relevant treatment and disposal
infrastructure for the collected material.
At least two areas escape this seemingly neat division:
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a) Both local authorities and the private sector operate landfills. The two
compete, and would do so for both household and commercial waste.
They will continue to do so in future, so the issue – real or perceived –
of how facilities are consented retains significance;
b) Both local authorities and the private sector collect commercial waste.
The two would, where the local authority was active in collection,
compete in this market. There are, in this case, some issues worthy of
consideration. The OECD notes: 105
Local authorities are not subject to value-added tax (VAT) for
their waste management services as in the case for the private
sector. While this is not an issue at the household level, it is an
issue for commercial customers where service users cannot
claim back VAT. This allows local authorities to offer their
105 OECD (2008) Ireland: Toward an Integrated Public Service, Paris: OECD, available at:
http://www.oecd.org/document/31/0,3343,en_2649_33735_40529119_1_1_1_1,00.html