Clause 2 - Non-target years
Waste and Emissions Trading Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Mr John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings, Conservative)
May I say how delighted I am, as all right hon. and hon. Members must be, to welcome you, Miss Begg, to the Chair of this exciting Committee? I look forward to further exciting debates this afternoon and thereafter.
The amendment needs to be seen in the context of this morning's first debate, for which you, Miss Begg, were not present. The Committee discussed whether to change the word ''must'' to ''may''. We now want to change the word ''may'' to ''must''. That is principally on the ground of consistency—[Laughter.] I see that the Committee has spotted the logic in my argument.
The Minister knows that we would not want to leave him with a Bill that was imperfect. At the moment, it suggests that the Minister ''may'' specify the maximum amount of waste by weight of biodegradable municipal waste allowed in non-target years. It has already been acknowledged that, because of the obligatory requirements of the EU directive, ''must'' would be a more appropriate word to use at the beginning of the Bill. It is a matter of legitimate debate as to whether we should use the word ''must'' in the non-target years.
The difficulty with using the word ''may'' is that it might wrongly provide flexibility; it could provide variability and make it more difficult for us to meet those targets. The Minister was honest enough to say that it would be difficult to meet those targets, given the proportion of waste currently sent to landfill. We
do not start from a happy position in respect of meeting those stiff targets. As the Minister said on Second Reading, it will be a huge challenge.
The strength of the amendment is that it would encourage the Minister to be rigorous in his requirements—if we are to meet those targets, we must press ahead with vigour. Later in our proceedings, we shall say that it needs to be done with sensitivity, and proper consultation, but that is the subject of later amendments. I do not argue for a prescriptive approach. It must be done with partnership and agreement, and with proper collaboration between the interested parties, but ''must'' seems an appropriate word when specifying the amounts of waste to be sent to landfill in non-target years.