§ Lord Graham of Edmontonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they agree with the Verney Committee that consumption of wastes should match output.
§ The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Elton)The Verney Committee recommended that the national aim should be to achieve a situation in which the consumption of all wastes which are suitable for use as aggregates matches the output of the wastes. The previous Administration agreed with the committee's recommendation but pointed out that this was a counsel of perfection, economics inevitably playing a major part in the choice of materials. Subject to that constraint they supported the maximum possible use of suitable wastes as aggregate materials and in reclamation of other mineral workings. Her Majesty's Government do not dissent from that view and are supporting research at the Building Research Establishment into the use of waste materials in construction.