§ Mr. Bill O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the application by the Department for a derogation for(a) 2006, (b) 2009 and (c) 2016 on the biodegradable municipal waste diversion targets of the Landfill Directive. [148757]
§ Mr. MorleyArticle 5.2 of the Landfill Directive lays down demanding targets for reducing the amount of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill and the timescale for achieving those targets. The targets require the quantity of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill to be reduced to 75 per cent. of the total amount (by weight) of such waste produced in 1995 by 2006; to 50 per cent. by 2009; and to 35 per cent. by 2016.
For those member states (like the UK) which landfilled more than 80 per cent. of their municipal waste in 1995, the Directive contains a derogation permitting a delay to the target dates by up to four years i.e. to 2010, 2013 and 2020. If a member state intends to take advantage of this derogation, there is an obligation on it to inform the Commission in advance. The UK will 1373W meet that obligation by informing the Commission at least a year in advance if it intends to make use of the derogation for a target year. As was made clear in the recent consultation, planning for the Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme assumes that the derogation will be used for all three target years