HC Deb 25 March 1996 vol 274 cc412-3W
Mr. Sheerman

To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what discussions he has had with the glass industry in developing more end-use markets and products for recycled glass; [21738]

(2) what recent discussions his Department has had with the bottling industry regarding the use of recycled glass. [21743]

Mr. Page

My Department has funded an environmental technology innovation scheme project with British Glass to develop alternative uses for green waste glass—cullet. A number of interesting applications have been identified, such as foam glass building blocks, coffee tables, floor tiles and "glasphalt", and British Glass is now pursuing some of the more promising ideas under its own auspices. The environmental technology best practice programme will promote the results of projects aiming to increase the proportion of cullet used in UK glass industry. The Government frequently meet representatives of the glass container-making and using industries in the course of discussions on producer responsibility for packaging waste.

Mr. Sheerman

To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what studies his Department has commissioned to evaluate the enterprise potential of the manufacture of products from recycled material; [21741]

(2) what research his Department has initiated into the feasibility of expanding markets for products manufactured from recycled material. [21740]

Mr. Page

My Department periodically commissions the recycling advisory unit of the national environmental technology centre to carry out and publish studies into the market prospects for a number of recycled materials, including paper, plastics, metals, glass and wood. These studies, which include an assessment of the technical and market barriers to increasing the use of material for recycling, are in the process of being brought up to date, and copies will be placed in the Library of the House when they are finalised.

A number of projects under our ETIS and Euroenviron schemes of assistance had as their objective the development of new products using recycled materials, and the current environmental technology best practice programme will promote the results of projects aimed at increasing the use of waste paper and glass.