HL Deb 21 July 2004 vol 664 cc224-6

3.22 p.m.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:

What action they plan to take in the light of comments by the director general of the British Metals Recycling Association that the scrap metal industry will no longer accept the 45,000 cars which it deals with each week.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)

My Lords, on Monday, my colleague, Elliot Morley, Minister for the Environment and Agri-Environment, held a constructive meeting with representatives of the metal shredding and car dismantling industries to discuss their concerns over the disposal of end-of-life vehicles. Also present were representatives from the Environmental Services Association, the Environment Agency and the DTI. The meeting agreed a two-point plan that has resulted in the market for scrap cars resuming its normal pattern. That plan will be worked up to form a protocol that will form the basis of a working relationship between the car dismantlers, the metal shredders, the waste management industry and the Environment Agency for the foreseeable future.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. It at least means that we will not have 45,000 defunct cars arriving on the streets of Britain every week with nowhere to go. Does he share my disquiet that there was so little planning on the part of both the Government and the Environment Agency that the landfill directive and the end-of-life vehicle directive were not co-ordinated? As a result, the guidance was unclear, the industry did not know what to do and nor did landfill operators. What is the Minister's department doing to put in place clear guidance for an industry that is doing its best to dispose of our waste?

Lord Whitty

My Lords, the guidance is clear enough; it is a matter of practicality for the metal shredding and car disposal industries, which are required to separate out the hazardous waste so that the rest of the waste can go to landfill, which no longer provides for hazardous waste. I think the practicalities have now been largely sorted out in the protocol agreed by my honourable friend earlier this week.

Baroness Gardner of Parkes

My Lords, is the Minister aware that this issue goes very much wider than the disposal of cars? The Aluminium Federation and the non-ferrous industries consider that they may be brought almost to a standstill by the new regulations, as nearly all waste, no matter how small, from aluminium manufacturing is now classified and will not be accepted at any of the former sites.

Lord Whitty

My Lords, I do not think that that is the problem. The issue is not one of capacity for dealing with hazardous waste; in this case, it is to do with the practicality of separating out waste. A number of problems will have to be ironed out in that respect but the allegation, which I have seen in the media, that it is a capacity problem is not right. It is a practicality problem and, to some extent, an economic problem.

Lord Dixon-Smith

My Lords, the Minister's initial response is welcome. It is pleasing to know that there is at last a satisfactory outcome, but the problem was very well signalled and has been known about for months. Can the Minister explain to the House how it came about that we had to get right to the wire before there was a meeting between his department, the industry and the Environment Agency, agreement between which was necessary to reach a conclusion? The matter was taken beyond the eleventh hour of the eleventh day.

Lord Whitty

My Lords, we are not dealing with a sudden imposition of new regulations; they have both been in place for about two years, and the practicalities have been sorted out in most respects. In this case, there may have been a somewhat precipitate reaction on the part of the metal disposing industries. With the good will of all parties, that has now been sorted out.

Lord Hunt of Chesterton

My Lords, will the Minister consider giving advice to customers that in future when they buy their cars they will be able to choose one which can be recycled most effectively? That is one of the most important elements of an environmentally friendly car.

Lord Whitty

My Lords, it would be highly desirable if customers chose the most recyclable products of all kinds, including motor cars. It will take time before that situation exists. In the mean time, of course, a producer liability law is being introduced which will require producers to take responsibility for disposal. That law is not yet in place—I think it will be introduced in 2007—but it will resolve in part the issue of disposing of non-recyclable materials.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

My Lords, further to the question of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, I thought that the Government had undertaken to introduce a car labelling scheme to give consumers that kind of information. What has happened to that scheme?

Lord Whitty

My Lords, there are a number of labelling schemes that are not legally required but have been discussed with motoring manufacturers and the industries that produce electronic and electrical goods covered by the parallel agreement—normally known as the WEEE directive—which also affects the situation.

Baroness Gardner of Parkes

My Lords, is it not a case of reclassification of the waste? Aluminium waste, which in the past was acceptable for landfill, is no longer acceptable.

Lord Whitty

My Lords, it is not so much a reclassification of the waste than an ending of the co-location of hazardous and non-hazardous waste. For landfills that previously could take both, separation was not a problem. It has now become a problem.

Lord Haskel

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that in the past three months the price of scrap metal has more than doubled from about £40 a ton to more than £100 a ton? Does that not indicate that the arrangements described by my noble friend are beginning to work?

Lord Whitty

My Lords, I bow to my noble friend's knowledge of scrap metal prices. It is certainly true that the industry has gone through a relatively profitable time. That is why, to some extent, the complaint that this was a large economic cost on the industry needs to be seen proportionately and in context. We have now reached an accommodation with all elements of the industry that will enable us, at least for the immediate period, to deal with this rather difficult issue.