§ Mrs. BrookeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of refrigerators per day being added to storage by local authorities; and when she expects appropriate recycling plants to be operating in this country. [30320]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 29 January 2002]: It has been estimated that around 2.5 million domestic refrigeration units are disposed of in the UK each year. Not all these arisings will require storage—any fridges in working order may be refurbished for re-sale and re-use on the domestic market. Fridges can also be incinerated in the UK or exported to other Member States for treatment. We anticipate that a specialist fridge recycling plant will be operating in the UK by spring.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if it is her policy to require major distributors of refrigerators who collect used refrigerators to return each one to the local authority in the area from which it originated. [36253]
§ Mr. MeacherMost retailers and other distributors no longer collect used refrigerators. We are looking at the options available to reinstate retailer take back. However, it is not my Department's policy to require the return of fridges to the local authority for the area from which they originated.