To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action is being taken to encourage the production of peat-free horticultural substitutes from recycled organic waste.

The Government have commissioned research into the potential markets for waste-based compost and are participating in the development of standards for it. This work is designed to address the main barriers to the use of waste-based compost.My Department funds a number of projects to encourage composting, including projects run by Friends of the Earth; the Henry Doubleday Research Association; and Wyecycle. We have allocated £15 million in supplementary credit approvals to local authorities in 1993–94, to enable them to set up recycling schemes, including organic waste composting schemes.The Department of Trade and Industry has given a grant of £409,000 to South West Water, under its DEMOS scheme, to explore the feasibility of co-composting sewage sludge and municipal solid waste.