§ Ms. WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to ensure that the United Kingdom meets its recycling target of 25 per cent. of household waste by 2000.
§ Mr. MacleanWe are undertaking a wide range of measures to ensure that we reach our recycling target. In particular, we are setting a legislative and economic framework designed to make recycling the preferred choice when it is the best environmental option.
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 introduces the most favourable legal framework for recycling ever provided in this country. To help authorities in England to implement their recycling strategies, we have introduced a programme of supplementary credit approvals. In order to assist industry to overcome technical and market barriers to recycling, the Government provides funding for research and development through the ETIS scheme, operated jointly by my Department and the Department of Trade and Industry, and the DEMOS and EUROEN VI RON schemes, administered by the Department of Trade and Industry. We have introduced an economic incentive in the form of recycling credits; my noble Friend Lord Strathclyde announced on 30 September that the value of credits will double from 1 April 1994.