The
First Regional Waste Plan for South East Wales
Summary of Consultation
The Hazardous Waste Supplement
The First Regional Waste Plan for South East Wales
The production and management of waste is an issue of major importance. Specific objectives and targets have been set by the European Union that will require us all to make radical changes in how we produce and deal with waste. We have no choice but to develop a more sustainable approach; we must change to produce less waste and to recover more resources, in environmentally friendly ways, from the waste that we do produce.
The Welsh Assembly Government has published a National Waste Strategy for Wales - 'Wise about Waste' - which seeks to ensure compliance with the various European Directives on waste management. Within the context of this national strategy, planning policy contained in Technical Advice Note 21 "Waste" requires local authorities to work together to prepare Regional Waste Plans (RWPs). These RWPs are essential in helping to implement the national strategy and meet the obligations in the EU Waste Directives.
The first Regional Waste Plan (2.4Mb), published in March 2004, is a land-use framework to help planning and controlling the development of an integrated network of facilities to recover, treat and dispose of waste in South East Wales in a way which will satisfy modern environmental standards and meet the targets set by European and national legislation.
The RWP was agreed by the Members Steering Group and endorsed by all of the local authorities in the region in compliance with TAN 21.
The RWP was the final part of a series of documents prepared over a two-year period which included:
A
Regional Waste Assessment Agreed
in November 2002, that contained 'baseline' information.
A Draft Options Development Report in which a range of 6 Options was identified
that between them allow assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of
combinations of the available waste treatment and disposal methods.
A Life Cycle Assessment
(WISARD) that was carried out to compare the environmental costs and benefits
of each Option in relation to environmental indicators.
A Wider Sustainability
Assessment (BPEO) was then carried out to include economics, social consequences,
practicability and consistency with policy, in addition to environmental factors.
Extensive consultation was undertaken on a draft
version of the Plan, to find out the views and preferences of individuals,
communities, public bodies and organisations, business and industry, voluntary
organisations, environmental groups, other interest groups, and the waste
management industry. Following this consultation a Consultation
Report was published by research consultants and a Consultation
Report 2 reported the written consultation responses received.
To assess the potential effects of implementing the Regional Waste Strategy
a Health Impact
Assessment (HIA) was carried out. This took account of both public perceptions
of the potential health impacts of different waste management operations and
scientific knowledge of these impacts.