I beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.

Batteries present a big problem. They contain many harmful substances. The UK seems to be at the bottom of the league table for recycling them and we shall have to smarten up our act. The Government have said nothing encouraging about what we will do about battery recycling.

We tabled several questions on the matter, and it appears that the United Kingdom recycles 0.5 per cent.   of batteries. Belgium recycles 58.5 per cent. The next lowest to us in the table is Spain, and it recycles 14 per cent. of batteries. People can put them in a collection box at markets. The figure for France is 16 per cent. Out of eight countries for which figures are available, we are way down—we are scarcely off the bottom.

There are no domestic battery recycling facilities in the UK, although we obtained information today that one will be opened on 17 March. We are pleased about that. It will deal with alkaline and zinc carbon batteries, which represent 80 per cent.—and rising—of household batteries, but clearly the Government have no strategies in place to encourage the market or to deal with the shamefully low recycling rate. If battery waste were being produced by industry it would be classed as hazardous waste, but because it comes from households it is not.

There was previously a battery recycling facility at Avonmouth, but the parent company closed it. Any batteries that are collected are sent to France for recycling. Alkaline and zinc batteries are sent elsewhere in Europe. We do not know where lithium batteries go. They tend to be incinerated, which is very bad news.

We have been trying to find out what has been happening to batteries in the UK—whether they are buried, burned or sent overseas—but there is no data. We have asked how many batteries have been sent to other countries for recycling since 1997. We know that that there is an informal agreement because we all know people who put their old batteries in their cars and take them to France. That takes us back to the idea about waste jumping boundaries. However, there is no data.

We asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many lithium batteries were incinerated in the UK in a year. The Minister for the Environment and Agri-environment said that he did not know. That is not a small problem. It has an impact on human health. Eight per cent. of rechargeable domestic batteries contain the toxic chemical cadmium. As we know, every now and then people throw away their rechargeables when they no longer hold their charge.

The website of the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and that of the Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage state that the chemical cadmium is a persistent bioaccumulative that does not break down in the environment, and when humans are exposed to it through the food chain, the effects can range from headaches and digestive irritation to kidney disease, lung damage and cancer.

In answer to a parliamentary question on the environmental consequences of disposing of spent batteries in landfill, the Minister for the Environment and Agri-environment said:

''The main environmental concerns associated with the landfilling of batteries relate to the potential generation and discharge of leachate into the environment of hazardous substances i.e. cadmium, lead and mercury, all known to be toxic to the aquatic environment and human health.'' 

These substances are persistent. He continued:

''Discharge of these substances to the environment are likely to occur through (a) the compaction of weight, leading to substances discharging from the battery and (b) percolation of rainfall further leaching these substances into groundwater. It is however worth noting that spent batteries constitute only 0.1 per cent. of the Municipal Solid Waste stream.''—[Official Report, House of Commons, 11 March 2004; Vol. 418, c. 1627W.]

However, the EU directive will require all member states to recycle 44 per cent. of household batteries and 80 per cent. of household nickel cadmium batteries, and to collect and send for recycling all automotive industrial batteries. So we are expecting, as is usual when directives get transposed into national law, that this directive will need to be transposed into national law in 2007. If so, several of that directive's requirements will need to met by 2008. It is now 2005.

The new clause is reasonable. Indeed, it is absolutely essential, and one would hope that the Government will adopt it. I am sure that the Government would not dispute the harm that batteries do to the environment and to human health, or the persistent problems caused by batteries not being disposed of properly. That is why we tabled the new clause, almost in a spirit of helpfulness. The Government can make a useful Amendment to the legislation to deal with the problem of battery recycling, and we hope that the Minister will deal with it in that way.