Recycling payments increased

The system of recycling credits was introduced on 1 April 1992 under section 52 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. It provides for WDAs to pay to waste collection authorities amounts representing their net savings on the disposal of waste which is retained by the latter for recycling. Equivalent amounts are also payable at WDAs' discretion to other parties removing materials from the waste stream.

Standard figures for the value of recycling credits were set last year for different parts of the country. These are to be used when a WDA's net saving of expenditure on waste disposal cannot be calculated directly.

The new values for these standard figures which will apply from 1 April are shown in the table above. Last autumn, the Government promised that the figures will be doubled from April 1994 by taking into account the full long-run marginal costs of waste disposal.