Clause 26 - Penalties under Chapter 1: general
Waste and Emissions Trading Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Mr John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings, Conservative)
It is a great delight, Mr. Amess, to see you in the Chair after your Easter sojourn when we were, happily, able to spend a little time together.
We have been discussing the vital relationship between waste collection authorities and waste disposal authorities, and the need for them to work collaboratively to meet the targets set in the Bill. My hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker) spoke with his customary eloquence and not a little charm—hon. Members can tell that I have had a good lunch—about the importance of that relationship and the real danger if it breaks down. There may be good collection authorities in areas where disposal authorities are less than up to the mark, and vice versa. Consequently, unless both commit to meeting the targets in a co-operative way, either could fall down through no fault of its own.
The situation is complicated by the fact that within a disposal authority's purview there will be collection authorities with a variety of profiles. My hon. Friend spoke about a typical county council. I accept that not all authorities are two tier; there is a multiplicity of arrangements. However, let us consider a two-tier authority in which a county is working with a variety of districts that are responsibly and sensibly collecting
waste to meet the Bill's requirements, but in which the disposal authority is not up to speed. There will be a major disincentive for collection authorities and their householders to change their culture to adopt new, healthy practices if they know that the disposal authority will end up burning everything. That could be a problem for collection authorities that do their jobs well and aim to do them even better.
The hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) drew attention to innovative and imaginative work that is taking place in some of the best collection authorities. He implied that they would be disincentivised and demoralised if they felt that their work was not matched by the disposal authorities. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle said, it works both ways.