HC Deb 31 July 1997 vol 299 c503W
Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the amount, and proportion, of paper recycled by his Department in each of the last five years. [11546]

Dr. Howells

The Department retains information only on the amount of recyclable wastepaper collected and this is as follows:

Figures quoted in kilos
1992–93 82,066
1993–94 82,066
1994–95 289,001
1995–961 278,671
1996–97 196,860
Total 928,664

Recycling schemes were introduced at different points across the estate during the period covered by the question. Rationalisation of the estate.

1The merger between the Department for Education and the Employment Department and a commitment to reduce the use of hard copy documents in favour of electronic documentation have also played their part in the resultant figures given.

Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to introduce a waste minimisation strategy for his Department. [11544]

Dr. Howells

Waste minimisation forms part of the Department's green housekeeping strategy. The strategy for 1997–98 is based on measuring several streams of waste collected for recycling—paper, aluminium cans, bottles, copier toner cartridges and fluorescent tubes. Within the framework of the strategy, facilities management teams on each of our four main sites—Darlington, London, Runcorn and Sheffield—decide which streams they will measure.

At the end of the year, it is intended that progress will be reviewed against the overall minimisation target and all sites will be urged to extend the range of streams to be measured during 1998–99.

Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on existing targets set to minimise waste in his Department. [11545]

Dr. Howells

The Department has set a target of reducing waste by 5 per cent. during 1997–98 and plans to compare records for the period from April to September with those from October to March. The year 1997–98 will then be adopted as the base year for setting realistic future targets.