§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many recycling134W plants in the United Kingdom are equipped to handle fridges under the new regulations being introduced on 1 January 2002. [22073]
§ Mr. MeacherEC Regulations No. 2037/2000 requires the removal of ozone depleting substances (ODS) from waste fridges before they are scrapped. The Department is aware of one facility in the UK capable of extracting ODS from waste fridges prior to scrapping, although this facility is not yet on-line. A number of other companies have indicated their intention to establish other such facilities in the UK.
§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make a statement on the methodology employed to determine the additional sum of money required to deal with the extra costs to local waste service companies of dealing with unwanted refrigerators and freezers; [22220]
(2) how the additional funding for the storage of old refrigerators containing CFCs will be allocated, broken down by county. [22223]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 12 December 2001]: This Department recently announced a payment of £6 million to English local authorities to cover their costs of handling fridges and freezers until March 2002. We shall urgently assess the impacts of the regulation and will determine what further action is required beyond that.
The provision for waste disposal is included, together with other council services, within the upper tier of the Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services (EPCS) Standard Spending Assessment (SSA). The SSA is taken into account in the calculation of revenue support grant allocations to each authority. The additional £6 million for the disposal of refrigerators regulation has been added into the EPCS block.