§ Baroness Hooperasked the Chairman of the Committees:
What percentage of paper used in Parliament is recycled; and
Of the recycled paper used in Parliament, what is the level of post-consumer waste contained in it; and
Given that good quality paper containing 100 per cent. recycled post-consumer waste is now available at competitive prices, whether it is intended to use such paper in Parliament.
§ The Chairman of Committees (Lord Boston of Faversham):At present, the House of Lords does not use recycled paper for either writing paper or photocopying paper. It was agreed in 1990 to replace the existing non-recycled writing paper with recycled paper, but the use of recycled paper was discontinued in 1993. The principal reasons were that, by using non-recycled writing paper, the House would save money: and that Lords had complained that the recycled paper used by the House was not suitable for use with fountain pens.
No proposals are currently being considered in the House of Lords to change this policy.