§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a study of the German waste disposal system whereby there is an advantageous financial incentive to return used bottles to manufacturers.
§ Mr. Eggar[holding answer 14 April 1993]: Deposit systems were among the mechanisms examined by Environmental Resources Ltd. as part of its study of "Economic Instruments and Recovery of Resources from Waste", commissioned by my Department and the Department of the Environment. This study was published by HMSO in December last year, and copies were placed in the Library of the House. It built on earlier work carried out by ERL on deposit/refund systems for beverage containers, which included an examination of deposit schemes being operated in Germany. Consultation on both these studies has taken place and the comments received will be taken into account by the Government in the development of recycling policy.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what proposals he has to promote a returnable outer crate system, and the re-usable MTS Tengelmann container system.
§ Mr. Eggar[holding answer 14 April 1993]: It is for the judgment of those directly involved in distribution and 717W retailing to decide whether to use returnable outer crates, such as the MTS Tengelmann container system. I expect environmental impact and commercial advantage to be among the considerations that they take into account when reaching a decision.