Wales Regional Waste Plans

The following comments are from the Welsh Assembly Governments Regional Waste Plan Consultation Document.

What is a Regional Waste Plan?

Waste is one of the largest environmental concerns facing Wales today. In order to take a strategic and coordinated approach to waste management and waste planning, Regional Waste Plans were formed and adopted in March 2004.

Please visit www.walesregionalwasteplans.gov.uk to see the Wales Regional Waste Plan for your region.

The Waste Issue in Wales

Wales historically has had an over reliance on landfill for the disposal of its waste. Much of the waste which is sent to landfill is capable of being re-used, recycled, composted or treated in different ways to recover valuable materials and energy from it.

It is not a sustainable long term option for Wales to rely on landfilling to dispose of its waste as EU, UK and Welsh legislation require us to divert increasing amounts of waste from landfill.

The reason for this is 5 fold:

Sending our 'rubbish' to landfill is a waste of valuable resources which have the potential to be reused and made into new products.

Landfill sites release methane as biodegradable waste decomposes. This is a powerful greenhouse gas. Methane from landfill sites can be captured and used for energy production, but this is not 100% efficient and some still escapes to the atmosphere.

Reducing the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill will reduce the amount of methane released. This is a key measure in tackling climate change.

Local authorities across Wales are now urgently addressing the issue of long term waste disposal and are looking for alternative treatment solutions for biodegradable waste.

Landfill is a finite resource - there is limited land and very limited land suitable for landfill. This is a key driver behind the need to divert as much waste from landfill as possible.

The Vision

To provide an agreed long-term strategic waste management strategy and land- use planning framework for the sustainable management of wastes and recovery of resources in each of the three Welsh Regions, with the following aims:

  • To minimise adverse impacts on the environment and human health
  • To minimise adverse social and economic impacts and maximise social and economic opportunities
  • To meet the needs of communities and businesses
  • To accord with the legislative requirements, targets, principles and policies set by the European and national policy framework