News
Wales gains greater legislative powers over waste
19 February 2010
The Welsh Assembly Government has gained greater autonomy on waste management and waste matters after being granted special legislative powers.
This has been achieved through an Environment Legislative Competence Order (LCO), which was made official by Her Majesty the Queen in Privy Council earlier this week (February 10).
Proposals for the LCO, which has also received approval from the National Assembly of Wales and both Houses of Parliament, will mean that the Welsh Assembly can pass Assembly Measures to create stronger laws in the areas of waste, pollution and nuisance in Wales.
When the proposals for the legislation were first mooted it was claimed that the Environmental LCO could be used to introduce a tax on single-use plastic carriers bags and potentially be used to introduce a pay-as-you-throw tax system for householders regarding residual waste.
Measures outlining what the Government intends to specifically target are now set to be laid before the National Assembly for Wales in the next couple of weeks.
Commenting on the Measures, Jane Davidson, minister for environment, sustainability and housing, said: "Now that the Environment LCO has been made up by Her Majesty in Council we can move forward with our work to introduce a Measure that will enable us to adopt more sustainable waste management practices here in Wales."
Ms Davidson added that the use of LCOs would also enable Wales to reduce its carbon footprint and allow it to work towards achieving its ambitions set out in the ‘Towards Zero Waste' strategy
For more information please visit: http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=54602§ion=local_authority
