Council leaders have called for urgent government action to give them new powers to charge householders for waste and reduce the amount of rubbish being sent to landfill. Cllr Paul Bettison, chairman of the Local Government Association's environment board, said: ‘After all the recent speculation about financial incentive schemes, it is a time for the Government to clarify its position and give councils the powers to tackle England's growing waste mountain.' His plea came in response to publication of the House of Commons' committee of public accounts report Reducing the reliance on landfill, which urges the Department for Food and Rural Affairs to ‘take the tough decisions and practical steps needed to promote large-scale recycling'. The newly-published Climate Change Bill includes powers for some councils to pilot household waste reduction and recycling schemes, but DEFRA is still modelling a national scheme. Cllr Bettison insisted: ‘There is now strong public support for schemes which reward people for recycling, and councils should be given the power to introduce these where it is appropriate to do so.'
