Izzy Felton sits down with the Environmental Services Association’s Executive Director, Jacob Hayler, and discuss his career, the new Labour government and the emissions trading scheme.

Career

Computer games and online gambling may not be where you would expect the Environmental Services Association’s (ESA) Executive Director to have started his career, but that is where Jacob Hayler found himself when he first entered the world of work. With a background in economics, Mr Hayler worked as a market analyst in both sectors, before the dot com crash spurred a rethink.

“I decided to go back [to university] to study some more,” he said. “And specialised in environmental and resource economics. I was really interested in using tools of economic analysis and applying that to environmental problems.”

In 2005, after realising his job in a small private equity firm still wasn’t fulfilling his passion for environmental economics, he joined the ESA in a policy role. After ten years in the team, Mr Hayler took on the role of Executive Director in 2015.

I found it such a fascinating area to work in. The industry is very policy driven – very dependent on policy and regulation. So being involved in trying to help shape and influence that has made it a really interesting area to be in.

Working at the ESA

As Executive Director, Mr Hayler works with the ESA’s board to use its influence to help shape the sector’s policy, built around four key pillars: recovering resources, decarbonisation & meeting net zero, effective regulation and raising sector standards.

Decarbonisation and meeting net zero – the second pillar Mr Hayler mentioned – is at the forefront of many in the sector’s minds. In 2021, the ESA published its Net Zero strategy which set out decarbonisation strategy across the sector’s activities. “As well as the energy from waste side, we cover the full range of waste activities – collection, sorting, processing, organics, EfW and landfill,” Mr Hayler explained.

So we put in place a strategy that we think could deliver decarbonisation across all of that by 2040. But a lot of it will be reliant on the right policy levers to help support it. ETS is one aspect of that.

New government

Now the UK has a new Labour government, does trying to get policy implemented become harder? Mr Hayler explained that it doesn’t change the ESA’s view or perspective on what they think the right thing to do regarding policy is, and expressed that he looked forward to working with Labour – particularly the new Minister of Nature Mary Creagh, who is responsible for circular economy policy. But a change of ministers always poses a risk of delaying action.

“We had the Resources and Waste Strategy in 2018, and now, six years later, we're only just trying to implement some of the key elements of that. COVID was an obvious source of delay, but another was the turnover in ministers – it can slow everything down.”

Hayler hopes that the turnover of ministers will not be as frequent with this new administration and that key reforms can finally get over the line. From key packaging and recycling reforms, like funding for extended producer responsibility (EPR) and escalating a plastic tax, to securing a ‘well-structured’ plan for EfW’s inclusion in the ETS, there's plenty to work on.

“We're only 3 weeks or so in. But I think there are some definitely some promising early signs,” Mr Hayler said. “There was only a very light touch reference to circular economy in the Labour manifesto. But already Steve Reed is placing an emphasis on the potential for a circular economy in the UK.” 

It seems that Mr Hayler's positive outlook on the new government could be right, as after we ended our call, they announced plans for a speedier rollout of a deposit return scheme (DRS). 

Emissions Trading Scheme

EfW’s inclusion in the UK's ETS in 2028 isn’t far away and Mr Hayler believes that any delay in implementing the right policy needed before then could cause serious issues. Carbon leakage and how to monitor, report and verify emissions are the two biggest causes for concern.

“If [the new Government] starts trying to do anything too radical, or rip up what's already been planned, it's going to introduce new layers of uncertainty, which I don't think we can afford. We want to get the investment in now. Our members have been hugely frustrated as they need a stable policy framework in place [to start encouraging investment]. We haven't had that level of clarity from the Government, but hopefully, we can get to that point soon.”

We've got to make sure that we've thought about any unintended consequences and, to the best of our ability, made sure that we've addressed them and plugged any gaps.

Hopes for the future

We concluded the discussion on hopes for the future – what would be Mr Hayler’s dream for the future of waste? Over the next two years, he hopes to see a strong and well-established policy framework implemented, one that “sets the conditions that then enable us to then step up to the next level on recycling.”

The ESA has said that £10 billion worth of investment is going to be needed to move up to the next level of recycling. “I would like to see that programme of investment happening over the next 5 to 10 years after we've got that stable policy framework.”

A successful implementation of the emissions trading scheme, including the first wave of carbon capture projects up and running successfully was also on his list.

Those are two really important building blocks for getting more resources back into the economy, contributing to decarbonisation and making a really positive economic contribution.

“I don't know how visionary this is,” he joked. But his pragmatic outlook is precisely what’s needed for the challenges ahead.

By Izzy Felton