§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many officials in the Department have responsibility for waste management. [142591]
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§ Mr. MorleyAs at 15 December 2003, there are 95 officials employed by Defra with responsibility for waste management. In addition to this, there are four secondees who are on temporary placement.
§ Mr. Bill O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the polluter pays principle applies to management of the municipal waste stream; and if she will make a statement. [146517]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Waste Framework Directive (75/442/EEC as amended by 91/156/EEC) sets out a range of measures on the management of waste—including its collection and disposal. These measures include Article 8 which requires that—any holder of waste has it handled by a private or public waste collector; and Article 15 which provides that "In accordance with the 'polluter pays' principle, the cost of disposing of waste must be borne by.… the holder who has it handled by a waste collector."
The Government has put a range of measures in place under Part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 to comply with the Directive's requirements. These measures include the arrangements for the collection and disposal of household waste-by-waste collection and disposal authorities. The cost of collection and disposal under these arrangements is met through taxation and charges. Most commercial and industrial waste is collected and disposed of by the private sector under arrangements which comply with the Directive. The cost of collection and disposal under these arrangement is met through charges.
Municipal waste includes household waste and any other wastes collected by a waste collection authority or its agents under Part II of the 1990 Act (Waste Strategy 2000 page 198 (Cm 4693–2)).
§ Mr. Bill O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she plans to extend the statutory duty on local authorities with regard to recycling and composting beyond 2005–06; and if she will make a statement. [146518]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Government is committed to reviewing the national recycling targets this year, in light of the progress made by local authorities in meeting their 2003–04 Statutory Performance Standards for recycling and composting.
The review will include consideration of whether to set further statutory recycling targets for local authorities for the years beyond 2005–06, to succeed the current Statutory Performance Standards.
§ Mr. Bill O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many tonnes of material have been recycled as a direct result of the Waste and Resources Action Programme's activity; what the average cost to public funds was per tonne of such recycled material; and if she will make a statement. [146540]
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§ Mr. MorleyWRAP'S market development programmes are delivering an extra 1,000,000 tonnes/year of additional recycling capacity in the UK, through projects that have been delivered or are close to completion.
It is estimated that all of the capital grant and R&D projects initiated by WRAP, once fully realised, will generate at least four million extra tonnes of recycling per year in the UK. If the reasonable assumption is made that this recycling will continue to be delivered for at least 10 years, the cost to the public purse is estimated to be approximately £1/tonne.
These estimates relate solely to WRAP'S R&D and capital interventions and not to WRAP'S advocacy and procurement work, which make essential contributions to the programme as a whole, but are not so easily related to tonnage figures.
Water and sewerage undertakers Ultimate holding company and where headquarters is based Date of acquisition Thames Water Utilities Ltd. Thames Water Aqua Holdings GmbH (RWE AG) (Germany) November 2000 Wessex Water Services Limired YTL Power Berhad (Malaysia) May 2002
Water only undertakers Ultimate holding company and where headquarters is based Date of acquisition Cambridge Water plc. Union Electricia Fenosa SA (Spain) January 2004 Folkestone and Dover Water Services Ltd. Veolia Environment (France) Februarv 2003 Tendring Hundred Water Services Ltd. Veolia Environment (France) Owned since before 1989 South East Water plc. Macquarie Bank Ltd. (Australia) October 2003 Three Valleys Water Services plc. Veolia Environment (France) Owned since before 1989