§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the responsibilities allocated to the Waste and Resources Action Programme; and what the present budget allocation is. [114268]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) was established to promote more sustainable waste management by working to create more stable and efficient markets for recycled materials and products.
WRAP"s current business plan, covering the period from 2001–04, focuses on four specific materials: plastics, paper, glass and wood, and three general areas where action is needed to remove barriers to the greater use of recycled materials and products: financial mechanisms, standards and procurement.
For 2003–04 WRAP has been allocated £10.2 million from Defra, £5 million from DTI and £0.6 million from the Welsh Assembly Government, for the continuation of its market development work. It may also receive small additional contributions from the Scottish Executive and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Since 2002 WRAP has also taken on a programme of work on minimising the need for primary aggregates, funded through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund. The budget has yet to be finalised but is likely to be between £9 million—£13 million.
From 2003–04 WRAP will be taking forward three new programmes of work recommended by the Strategy Unit in its report "Waste Not, Want Not", in addition to their "core" programme, on recycling (kerbside best practice and development of the organics market), waste minimisation and waste awareness. The budget has yet to be finalised but is likely to be of the order of £17.5 million for 2003–04.
§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what estimate she has made of the effects upon the cost of(a) collection and (b) management of municipal waste stream in the UK of complying with the requirements of Article 5 of the Landfill Directive to (i) reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste to 50 per cent. of 1995 levels by 2013 and (ii) reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste to 35 per cent. of 1995 levels by 2020; [114791]
(2) what estimate she has made of the effect upon the cost of collection and management of municipal waste in the UK of meeting the (a) recycling and (b) recovery targets of the Waste Strategy 2000. [114715]
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§ Mr. MeacherThe costs involved in meeting the Article 5 Landfill Directive targets and other waste strategy targets were set out in the Regulatory Impact Assessment, published with Waste Strategy 2000.
A base case was established and various policy mixes were costed against that base case. The additional costs of the policy mixes that should deliver the levels of recycling, composting and recovery needed to meet the waste strategy targets fell in the range £3.4 billion to £7.7 billion (net present value) over the 20-year period 2000–20.
Waste Strategy 2000 stated that the proposed targets for the recovery and recycling of municipal waste may not impose net additional costs if it is assumed that a broad mix of waste management options will be required to meet the Landfill Directive targets; and that reliance on incineration and composting is unlikely to be viable.