§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps her Department plans to take to encourage and enable local authorities to(a) promote composting and (b) provide low cost compost bins; [80513]
(2) what steps her Department is taking to implement new composting initiatives. [80514]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Government has set local authorities a target to recycle or compost at least 25 per cent, of household waste by 2005. This national target has been underpinned by local authority specific statutory performance standards. These standards set levels of recycling and composting that all waste authorities must achieve by 2003–04 and 2005–06. £140 million was provided by the Government under its Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund to help local authorities achieve these targets. The Strategy Unit Report on Sustainable Waste Management, due to be published shortly, will also be considering recycling and composting targets and the help required to meet them.
The Department commissioned a risk assessment that looked at the animal and public health risks posed by the composting/biogas treatment of catering waste and 48W spreading it on land. This work concluded that, provided satisfactory controls are in place, composting/biogas treatment can be done safely.
We are therefore developing processes that will allow catering waste to be composted safely, based on the results of the risk assessment (without the risk assessment, we would be obliged to follow the EU standard, which would be more restrictive). The aim is to get a draft SI out for public consultation by end November, and to amend the legislation early in the new year. The overall objective is to develop a set of rules that will allow composting of catering waste to take place economically while fully protecting animal and public health.