HC Deb 29 October 2001 vol 373 cc533-5W
Mr. Sayeed

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which councils have introduced user-friendly domestic and commercial waste recycling programmes; and what plans the Government have to encourage more councils to establish such programmes. [9072]

Mr. Meacher

Local authorities operate a variety of collection schemes, through civic amenity sites, bring sites and kerbside collection.

Local authorities are required to collect commercial waste if requested to do so, but may charge. They will therefore do so only where it is convenient for the business concerned. We have no specific information on the arrangements for recycling this material.

Under best value local authorities must provide information on the percentage of the population that is currently served by kerbside collection of recyclables or is within 1 km radius of a recycling centre. The latest data are at the following website: www.local-regions.dtlr.gov.uk/ best value/indicators.

The latest information on kerbside schemes alone show that these are continuing to develop and now provide nearly 30 per cent. of recycled material and cover around 43 per cent. of households in England and Wales. These schemes currently produce on average 81 kg per household per annum for those households covered, however there is a wide range with some schemes achieving very low yields and a few achieving more than 200 kg. The success of schemes depend on both participation and capture rates. Rates of participation are typically in the range 30–85 per cent.

We have set challenging statutory performance standards for every local authority which overall triple household waste recycling and composting. As a minimum local authorities must deliver 10 per cent. recycling and/or composting of household waste by 2003–04 and 18 per cent. by 2005–06. It is for local authorities to decide how they should meet their performance standard.

We support the promotion of voluntary initiatives such as accredited environmental management systems EMAS and ISO 14001 and publicly committing to improvement targets (eg the re-launched "Making a Corporate Commitment" campaign) to help local authorities improve their environmental performance and waste management services.

Mr. Peter Ainsworth

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on progress towards meeting the requirements of the EU directive on the recycling of household waste. [8291]

Margaret Beckett

[holding answer 18 October 2001]: There is no EU directive on the recycling of household waste. The EU landfill directive (99/31/EC) sets challenging targets for the reduction of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill. We consulted earlier this year on a system of tradable landfill permits for waste disposal authorities. We will announce the final form of the scheme in due course and will introduce a Bill when parliamentary time permits. Meeting the Landfill Directive targets will require a greater percentage of household waste to be recycled, and the Government's Waste Strategy 2000 set targets to increase recycling in England and Wales. These targets are: To recycle or compost at least 25 per cent. of household waste by 2005. To recycle or compost at least 30 per cent. of household waste by 2010. To recycle or compost at least 33 per cent. of household waste by 2015. To underpin these national targets we have set statutory recycling performance standards for each local authority in England. For example, Surrey county council currently recycles or composts approximately 15 per cent. of waste collected and must increase this to 30 per cent. for 2003–04 and 36 per cent. for 2005–06. We will consider future standards in the light of technological advances, with the aim of maximising the recycling and composting of waste.

Andrew Bennett

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason the recycling of domestic composting is not counted when assessing local authority performance against recycling targets. [9613]

Mr. Meacher

We do measure local authority recycling and composting as a percentage of the waste stream. But there are great difficulties with accurately measuring home composting and the volume of waste that local authorities would otherwise have handled.

There are none the less clear incentives for local authorities to support home composting, including savings in the costs of waste collection and transport.

Mr. Sayeed

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on methods used for recycling industrial waste. [9949]

Mr. Meacher

Of the 400 million tonnes or so of waste produced in England and Wales each year around 78 million tonnes is waste produced by industry and commerce. Nearly half of industrial and commercial waste is already recycled and recycling is highest for separately collected waste streams such as metals and scrap equipment and paper and card. The Government are keen to encourage still higher recycling rates and have set a target to reduce the amount of industrial and commercial waste sent to landfill to 85 per cent. of the 1998 level by 2005.

The extension of producer responsibilities will contribute to the achievement of this target—both through statutory schemes implementing EU legislation such as the Packaging Directive and forthcoming directives on end of life vehicles and waste electronic and electrical equipment and through voluntary schemes such as that with newspaper publishers and one currently being negotiated on junk mail. The Government also fund Envirowise to give advice to businesses on how to minimise their waste and has set up the Waste and Resources Action Programme to develop markets for recycled materials.

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