§ Sir John Biggs-DavisonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what encouragement Her Majesty's Government are giving to recycling of waste; and whether, in the interests of conservation and the reduction of litter, he will consider means to ensure that bottles, tins and so on, are returnable on cash deposit.
§ Mr. Moynihan[holding answer 30 November 1987]: The Government are currently taking four main initiatives to encourage the economic recycling of waste:—
- 1. By promoting greater awareness of the potential of waste as a resource through, for example, a video directed at industry and an education pack for schools;
- 2. By holding sectoral conferences with all the interested parties to explore the prospects for increasing the economic recycling of specific waste materials; a conference on glass recycling in July 1986 resulted in a commitment to double the number of bottle bank sites within five years;
- 3. By setting up the recycling advisory unit at the Warren Spring laboratory in July 1985; and
553 - 4. By supporting the work of voluntary organisations, for example, the Waste Watch project of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
This encouragement does not extend to the imposition of mandatory deposits. The Government prefer to leave it to the market to decide whether goods should be packed in returnable or non-returnable containers and whether a deposit should be charged. There would be practical problems in introducing deposits on many forms of packaging.