§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will make a statement on the number of facilities available for the recycling of plastics; and what steps he is taking to ensure their wider existence;
(2) what action his Department is taking to encourage the use of environmentally benign plastics;
(3) what information he has on the long-term viability of biodegradable plastics; and what measures he is taking to encourage their development;
(4) what measures he is taking to ensure that plastics are either recycled or disposed of in a manner that enhances the environment and does not involve their dumping in land fill sites.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyRecycling of plastics is carried out within the plastics industry with about 50 firms engaged in this work.
519WRecycling of plastics used by consumers is more difficult because of the variety of polymers used and the difficulty of separating mixed plastics accordingly.
The Government encourage recycling as an environmentally sound disposal option where it is economic to do so and held a workshop in October 1986 with industry to promote this. The Government are supporting the proposal by UK 2000 for a "Recycling City" demonstration in Sheffield later this year and are pressing the plastics and soft drinks industries to include one or more post-consumer recycling projects in the plans. The demonstration will be monitored and the results publicised to encourage other towns and cities to follow suit.
The use and development of biodegradable plastics has been the subject of research within industry and progress has been made in a number of areas. In the long term, however, market forces will determine the extent to which such materials become widely used. The Government are satisfied that controlled landfill is a safe and practicable disposal method for plastic waste that cannot be recycled.