§ THE EARL OF LAUDERDALEasked Her Majesty's Government:
What research they have sponsored to discover uses for industrial, agricultural, fisheries or other waste which, if scarcely profitable by themselves, might be nationally profitable in terms of the balance of payments through release of other resources for the export drive.
§ LORD KENNETHer Majesty's Government are sponsoring a varied programme of research on uses for waste material which should lead to profitable outcomes for our balance of payments. The Minister of Technology has extensive research programmes at Warren Spring Laboratory on the treatment of metal scrap and the recovery of useful254WA materials from domestic refuse, and at the Forest Products Research Laboratory on the manufacture of chipboard using wood waste. These programmes should help reduce imports.
Much fisheries waste is already taken for conversion to fish meal and oil. But considerable research is being undertaken by the Fisheries Departments, in association with the White Fish Authority and Herring Industry Board, into possible uses for stocks of waste fish which are not at present exploited by British vessels, and into the possibility of developing industrial fisheries on these species, also in order to help the balance of payments.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has carried out experiments on the use of poultry manure as a source of protein food in fish cultivation and in livestock production.
The Ministry of Transport supports research into possible substitutes far imported road materials.
House adjourned at four minutes before nine o'clcck.