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Welsh Assembly government moves swiftly after winning legal competence on environmental laws

The Welsh Assembly government proposed a waste management measure – or law – this week that includes the power to impose financial penalties on local authorities failing to meet waste recycling targets.

The move comes after the Assembly was granted powers through a legal competence order (LCO) to make its own laws on environmental issues.

The proposed measure covers four main areas:

  • Allowing the Welsh Assembly government to ban or restrict specified kinds of waste from landfill
  • Providing Welsh ministers with the powers to set statutory targets for the percentage of municipal waste that local authorities recycle or compost, as well as providing the power to impose financial penalties on local authorities failing to meet those targets
  • Providing Welsh ministers with the power to introduce fees and charging schemes for site waste management plans relating to the construction and demolition sector in Wales, and
  • Supporting the Welsh Assembly government’s work to introduce a mandatory charge for carrier bags.

Environment minister Jane Davidson said the measure would enable Wales to adopt more sustainable waste management practices and was key to helping the Welsh Assembly government achieve the ambitions of its new waste strategy ‘Towards Zero Waste’. Under this strategy, it aims to ensure Wales is a high recycling country by 2025 and a zero waste country by 2050.

She added: “The Measure will drive us towards waste management practices that are much more sustainable and help us to reduce both our ecological and carbon footprints.”

The environment LCO was made by the Queen in Privy Council earlier this month. The order had already been approved by the Assembly and both Houses of Parliament.

Hailing the announcement as “great news for Wales”, Davidson said at the time: “Although environment policy has long been a devolved issue, until now we haven’t had the power to pass ‘made in Wales’ legislation based on Welsh priorities and needs."