Clause 1 - Duties of the Secretary of State

Part of Municipal Waste Recycling Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 3:00 pm on 10 June 2003.

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Photo of Clive Efford Clive Efford Labour, Eltham 3:00, 10 June 2003

I welcome you to the Chair, Miss Begg. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, Deptford on her work on the Bill. It has become a cliché, which is no less true for it, that we do not own the environment in which we live but merely hold it in trust for future generations. We will be judged by the decisions that we make, the actions that we take and whether we leave the environment not only as we found it but improve it given the impact that we, and previous generations, have had on it. Recycling is about making the most of the resources available to us and is an essential element of our strategy.

It is important that we stress that several issues must be clarified in the Government amendments. There is an issue about types of waste because the Bill requires the collection of two types of recycled material. It would be utterly ridiculous if that were reduced to just clear glass and green glass, with other materials ignored as a consequence. If that cannot be dealt with by the Minister today, it should be clarified in future.

Issues arise from the sorting of recyclables. We have at times focused too much on sorting at the point of collection rather than at a central sorting point. Local authorities could be encouraged to think more innovatively about that. For example, my local authority has just introduced a sorting centre for recyclables to maximise the amount and range of materials that can be collected at the doorstep.