§ Mr. JanmanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number of financial incentives he has considered in order to encourage the recycling of domestic waste in place of landfilling.
§ Mr. TrippierThe measures in the Environmental Protection Bill to improve controls and introduce separate accounting for the landfilling of waste will, by making the true costs of landfill more apparent, provide a greater incentive for recycling of waste. It is also the Government's intention to introduce a further amendment to the Bill that will require waste disposal authorities to pass any money that they save because waste has been sent for recycling, rather than landfilling or other disposal, to the authority that is responsible for that recycling. Other measures have been discussed by the advisory group on recycling and are currently being evaluated; these include tax or other financial incentives to encourage manufacturers to use recycled materials, assistance with the capital costs of new 261W recycling plant or collection facilities, continued research and development support for recycling processes and the introduction of deposits on selected items.
§ Mr. JanmanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will make it his policy that any incentive, through financial credit for avoiding landfill costs by recycling waste, will not be restricted to the recovery of glass, plastics, metals and newpaper, but will be specifically related to the amount of landfill that is avoided by the use of various recyclng mechanisms;
(2) if he will make it his Department's policy to promote financial credits from disposal authorities to collection authorities for waste diverted from landfill, and that such credits will be paid for from the public purse; if he has made any estimates as to the size of this increase in public expenditure; and if he will make a statement;
(3) if he will consider a sliding scale for financial credits to waste collection authorities, increasing in response to (a) volume of waste diverted from landfill, (b) volume of waste recovered, (c) volume of waste recycled, (d) volume of waste put to alternative use and (e) type of waste recovered, with specific attention to hazard and nuisance.
§ Mr. TrippierThe Government intend to introduce an amendment to the Environmental Protection Bill to provide for a recycling credits scheme and subsequently to undertake full consultation about the precise scope and method of application of such a scheme.