HC Deb 20 May 1999 vol 331 cc418-20W
Mr. Pickthall

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the locations of new landfill sites currently under planning consideration to receive household and organic waste. [84431]

Mr. Raynsford

Planning applications for landfill sites to receive household and organic waste are normally dealt with by the local planning authority. The Secretary of State will become aware of such an application only if it is referred to him as a departure from the development plan, if he has called it in for his own determination, or is considering doing so, or if it is subject to an appeal. There are, at present, 12 landfill proposals which fall within the above categories. These are:

  1. 1. Brogborough Tip, Brogborough, Bedfordshire;
  2. 2. Bell House Landfill Site, Colchester, Essex;
  3. 3. Alton Road Site, Waverley, Surrey;
  4. 4. Lamberhurst Farm Site, Lamberhurst, Kent;
  5. 5. Tiptree Farm, Sittingbourne, Kent;
  6. 6. High Lane Void, Silverdale, Staffordshire;
  7. 7. Hadley Quarry, Ketley, Shropshire;
  8. 8. Buck Park Quarry, Bradford;
  9. 9. Thurcroft Site, Thurcroft, Rotherham;
  10. 10. Houghton Quarry, Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland;
  11. 11. Broadoak Site, Hamsterley, Northumberland;
  12. 12. Round "O" Quarry, Skelmersdale.

Mr. Pickthall

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will list by local authority the local targets and current achievement for recycling of household waste; [84432]

(2) if he will list those local authorities which run waste plastic collection and recycling schemes. [84514]

Mr. Meale

The Department does not require local authorities to set targets for recycling. Data from the municipal waste survey for the year 1997–98 are currently being validated against previous years' data. I hope to be able to let my hon. Friend have a full reply to his question on Friday 4 June.

Mr. Pickthall

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what measures are in place for monitoring the accuracy of local authorities' waste recycling figures. [84433]

Mr. Meale

Data for each local authority collected from the Department's annual municipal waste survey are compared with previous years' figures, and with data from other comparable authorities.

Mr. Pickthall

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what action the Government are taking to encourage the recycling of plastics. [84434]

Mr. Meale

The Government have established a Market Development Group to consider the measures that could be taken to enhance the markets for recycled materials, including plastics, and to develop proposals to help overcome any barriers. The Group is considering a range of measures to improve stability and demand in the markets for recyclate, including the development of new markets and the use of economic instruments. The report of the Group will be published for consultation at the same time as the draft waste strategy.

Mr. Pickthall

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much plastic waste has been imported into the UK each year since 1994. [84435]

Mr. Meale

Plastic wastes are usually regarded as non-hazardous waste under Council Regulation (EEC) No.259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community. Imports of such waste for recovery is subject to commercial controls only, and information is not therefore collated by the competent authorities. Nor is the information available on the imports/exports database held by the Department of Trade and Industry, since the entry that covers plastic "waste" also includes a large number of substances which are not waste.

Whilst the Council Regulation requires imports of non-hazardous waste for disposal, and of hazardous wastes for disposal and recovery, to be notified to the competent authorities, information available to the competent authorities indicate that there have been no notified imports of plastic waste over this period.

Mr. Pickthall

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is his estimate of the percentages of(a) metals other than aluminium, (b) aluminium, (c) paper, (d) plastics, (e) glass and (f) organic materials recycled in the last year for which figures are available. [84528]

Mr. Meale

The most recent data on recycling rates supplied to the Department for each of the following materials are as follows:

Material Estimated recycling rate1 Percentage Date of estimate
Copper 37 1997
Lead 68 1997
Zinc 19 1997
Aluminium scrap 44 1996
Ferrous scrap 45 1997
Paper 38 1997
Glass 26 1996
1Material re-used as a percentage of consumption

With regard to plastics and organic waste, we do not collect data on the amount recycled.