PLANS for a new national waste scheme which looks to simplify recycling have been backed.

Westminster chiefs say the strategy has been designed to help combat climate change, safeguard resources and reduce the flow of plastic to the ocean by 2050.

It includes a call to councils to scrap garden waste disposal charges – due to the production of greenhouse gas methane if the materials end up in landfill sites; an attempt to tackle the current ‘postcode’ lottery of recycling, where different materials are recyclable in different areas; and make the firms that produce materials responsible for the cost of disposing of those items – industry will pay higher fees if their products are harder to reuse, repair or recycle.

Homes across the UK will also be provided with separate collections for food waste, in a bid to reduce the amount thrown away to tips. These new collections will be provided by local authorities, but further details of this will go to a public consultation before they’re implemented.

This is the first resources and waste strategy that has been published in 11 years, with the concern over climate change having rocketed in the past decade.

Councillor Rob Humby, environment head at Hampshire County Council, said: “We welcome the publication of a new national waste strategy by the government, which marks the first significant policy change in this area for over a decade.

“The collection and disposal of waste by local authorities is highly efficient but we recognise that changes are needed to help ensure less material is wasted and that we are able to capture and recycle a wider range of materials, for which there will be viable markets for recycled materials.”

Cllr Humby continued: “National government leadership and intervention is required to deal with non-recyclable packaging and waste reduction by extending responsibility to producers, and ensuring that packaging materials can be more readily and economically recycled.

“We will always be supportive of the drive to improve recycling and will engage with the Government’s consultations on how this is managed, including how the cost of delivering these services can be sustainably met at a time of significant pressure on local councils budgets.

“However, we would always want to promote waste prevention in the first instance for food.”