§ Dr. WhiteheadTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has undertaken of the success of industry-based packaging minimisation programmes; and what action she will take to disseminate examples of good practice in the industry. 113180]
§ Mr. MeacherI have recently asked my officials to look into minimisation of packaging and as part of this, the Advisory Committee on Packaging is setting up a Task Force to look into this issue, including looking at current examples of minimisation as well as ways of further encouraging this.
The DTI is commissioning a study to examine the impact of the Essential Requirements regulations on waste minimisation.
§ Dr. WhiteheadTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of packaging regulations in encouraging the minimisation of waste arising from packaging. [113188]
§ Mr. MeacherAs a result of the packaging Regulations, the amount of packaging waste going to landfill has fallen from 6.9 million tonnes in 1998 to 4.8 million tonnes in 2001. This figure is expected to continue falling as we set higher recycling targets in the future.