§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to increase the number of kerbside collection recycling schemes. [131082]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Government has set statutory targets for local authorities to increase the recycling and composting of waste. Some local authorities have chosen to introduce doorstep collection of recyclates to help meet those targets. In 2001–02 58 per cent. of households in England were served doorstep collection schemes. This had increased from 51 per cent. in 2000–01.
305WThe Government is also supporting the Household Waste Recycling Bill introduced by my hon. Friend, the member for Lewisham. The Bill provides, with some exceptions, that all local authorities in England must offer doorstep collection of at least two recyclates by 2010.
§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much household waste was recycled in 2002; and whether the Government are on track to achieve their 2005 target of recycling 25 per cent.of household waste. [131084]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey records that in 2001–2, England achieved a household waste recycling rate of 12.4 per cent., in line with average annual increases of 1 per cent. This makes targets for 2003–04 and 2005–06 look challenging. However, there is evidence that measures the Government is taking are having an impact, with Local Authority projections suggesting the 2003–04 target of 17 per cent. will be met. We plan to continue this momentum towards 2005–06.
§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the incentives given to the UK population to recycle household waste. [131085]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Government and Devolved Administrations fund waste awareness and education programmes to inform the population about the environmental benefits of recycling. There are no financial incentives for the population to recycle household waste.
In its response to the Strategy Unit Report 'Waste Not, Want Not' recommendation that local authorities in England should be able to take forward incentive schemes to reduce waste and increase recycling if they wish to do so, Government undertook to work with stakeholders to consider the practicalities of operating such schemes and how the potential disadvantages might be overcome.
§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the sources of household waste included in local authority recycling schemes. [131086]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Municipal Waste Management Survey for 2001–02 showed the following tonnages of materials collected for recycling and composting from household sources by local authorities:
306W
Material Thousand tones Percentage Paper and card 959 31 Glass 428 14 Compost1 940 30 Scrap matal/white goods 370 12 Textiles 42 1 Cans 26 1
Material Thousand tones Percentage Plastics 8 0 Co-mingled 217 7 Other (including oils, batteries etc.) 150 5 1 Includes organic materials (kitchen and garden waste); not home composting
§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reasons home-composted garden waste is not included in the Government's recycling targets. [131087]
§ Mr. MorleyHome-composted garden waste is not included in the local authority Best Value Performance Indicators due to the difficulty in accurately measuring the amount of waste that is composted by householders. However, the use of home composting is a key tool in reducing the amount of waste that local authorities collect and so is reflected indirectly in the Performance Indicators.
§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effects of changes in the type of ink used by newspaper producers on the recycling of newspapers; and if she will make a statement. [131105]
§ Mr. MorleyAbout 10 per cent. of the UK's newsprint is printed using flexographic presses which, at this level, is not sufficient to compromise the quality of recycled pulp produced for newsprint manufacture. We are aware that with current reprocessing technologies, a significant increase in these printing processes would have the potential to compromise the quality of recycled paper, and we have held discussions with the industry on this issue.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme will be taking forward work to assess the technical issues associated with the de-inking of flexographic inks.