Whitehall claims that town halls could ditch recycling plans, due to the looming recession, have been given short shrift by local government's environment champion. Paul Bettison, chairman of the Local Government Association's environment board, said: ‘To imply that local authorities are cutting back on these services at the first sign of difficulty is both unhelpful and untrue. Councils know only too well that the alternative to recycling is to throw waste into landfill, which is damaging to the environment and expensive for the taxpayer.' Mr Bettison's interjection followed a warning by Lord Smith, chair of the government's Environment Agency, that councils must ‘hold their nerve' and continue to invest in recycling services, despite falling prices for recycled materials. Whitehall officials are concerned that with the price of recycled plastics and metals collapsing, due to lower demand from China and India, negative press coverage of ‘recycling mountains' held by town halls could discourage authorities from promoting ‘green' policies.
