Environment Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 5 June 2006.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the amount of waste created by the (a) public and (b) private sectors in each of the last five years; what steps he is taking to reduce these amounts; and if he will make a statement.
Various surveys are carried out on the amounts of controlled and non-controlled waste generated. Detailed figures and statistics on waste and recycling in England and Wales are available from the Defra website: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/waste/index.htm.
Good progress has been made on the minimisation and recycling of waste since the publication of the "Waste Strategy for England and Wales 2000", which sets out Government's strategy for sustainable waste management.
Lesser amounts of most kinds of waste are being landfilled, and recycling and composting of household waste has doubled in the last four years. The latest figures show that local authorities in England recycled 22.9 per cent. of household waste in 2004-05 compared to 10.3 per cent. in 2001-02. More packaging waste is being recovered and recycled, rising from 33 per cent. to 56 per cent. between 1998 and 2004. The re-use and recycling of industrial and commercial waste has also increased, together with construction and demolition waste.
However, we still have much more to do. In 2000, our waste strategy set targets to recycle or compost at least 30 per cent. of household waste by 2010 and 33 per cent. by 2015. The Government have provided local authorities with greater levels of funding to enable them to meet their targets, and the majority of local authorities are working hard to improve their performance. Defra is proposing more targeted intervention and engagement with the poorest performers, and those local authorities with the lowest recycling rates in England have had their targets for 2007-08 raised from 18 per cent. to 20 per cent.
A number of programmes including the Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund and its successor the Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant, the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) Programme, and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) have been set up to support and increase waste recycling and provide efficient markets for recycled materials.
A review of the Government's waste strategy is currently underway. The new strategy will support the use of waste as a resource. It will also focus on waste prevention and resource efficiency, the development of a recycling culture, and a more joined up approach across waste streams—particularly for business and local authority waste.
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