Hansard

Waste Management

Volume 701: debated on Tuesday 6 May 2008

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Lord Laird

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Rooker on 22 April (WA 296) concerning waste management, how they are making it easier for local authorities to plan for and put in place the waste infrastructure needed to process more recyclable materials. [HL3275]

The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Lord Rooker)

We believe that all local authorities should have in place a strategy for managing their municipal waste. In some circumstances this is a statutory requirement. Government must also give local authorities the help they need to deliver and we have therefore produced policy and practice guidance to help local authorities in developing their strategies. Both sets of guidance are online at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/planning.htm.

Local authorities are best placed to plan and deliver necessary recycling infrastructure for their areas.

Additionally, the waste infrastructure capital grant is an unring fenced capital grant that will be paid to upper tier authorities (unitary and county councils) in most of England between 2008-09 and 2010-11. The funding available has been increased from around £105 million to £185 million over the next three years. The grant will be paid to local authorities in recognition of the need to get front-end waste infrastructure, e.g. recycling and composting facilities, on the ground in time to help England meet landfill targets. The grant is front loaded, i.e. more in the first two years and less in the third year, to help local authorities that wish to invest to help meet the 2010 landfill target.

The Defra-funded waste and resources action programme (WRAP) has provided advice on the design and management of and contracting with materials recovery facilities and will be continuing with work in this area. WRAP has also supported private companies in extending reprocessing capacity in paper and organics, so that there will in turn be greater demand for recyclables collected by councils. Additionally, local authority trials of food waste collections have been funded and infrastructure provided. Investment in home composting has also been supported by WRAP.