Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department has made available to waste disposal authorities for the prevention of methane emissions from closed landfill sites.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
No funding has been made available by the Department to disposal authorities for the prevention of methane emissions from closed landfill sites.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much revenue has been raised from fines for fly-tipping in the last five years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Over the last five years fines totalling £3,332,214 have been levied by the courts in England on offenders convicted of fly-tipping offences prosecuted by local authorities.
Further detailed data about fly-tipping, including fines, in England is publicly available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what financial support was available to re-useable nappy schemes in each year since 2005.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Department does not hold this information.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many local waste collection authorities own arms-length commercial waste collection services.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
We do not record this information.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to tackle agricultural plastic pollution.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I refer the Hon. Member to the reply given to the Hon. Member for Delyn, David Hanson, on 1 July 2019, PQ 268406.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been spent on tackling waste crime in the last five years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
In tackling waste crime the Environment Agency has spent: (in millions)
£13.4m in 2013/14
£11.2m in 2014/15
£11.4m in 2015/16
£10.8m in 2016/17
£10.7m in 2017/18
Data for 2018/19 has not yet been released.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to implement the EU Single-Use Plastics directive in full which includes measures on oxo-degradable plastics; and what plans he has to extend that legislation to include oxo-biodegradable plastics.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
In our Resources and Waste Strategy we have committed to match or where economically practicable exceed the ambition of the Single-Use Plastics Directive.
The term oxo-degradable plastics is used in the Directive. The Directive mandates that oxo-degradable plastics shall be restricted from being placed on the market from 3 July 2021. Oxo-degradable plastics are conventional plastics. They include additives which are designed to promote the oxidation of the material to the point where it embrittles and fragments, potentially resulting in risks from micro-plastic particles. The Government remains committed to reducing the health and environmental impacts of certain plastic products, including those made from oxo-degradable plastics, in the marine environment.
The Government is concerned that, in the absence of standards, claims about the biodegradability of plastic based products cannot be verified leading to potential confusion in the market place, possible increased levels of consumption and potential environmental harm at the point of disposal.
As part of the Bioeconomy Strategy published on 5 December last year, the Government committed to work with UK Research and Innovation and industry to seek evidence on the demand, benefits and implications (for example the impact on recycling streams) of a standard for bio-based and biodegradable plastics that would include carrier bags. The call for evidence will seek evidence in relation to labelling and information provision.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the volume of disposable nappies in household waste; and what assessment he has made of the (a) environmental and (b) financial merits of the introduction of reusable nappy schemes by local authorities.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I met Procter & Gamble who have developed a technology to recycle nappies and I understand they are in discussions with several local authorities to establish a facility in the UK. The Government is committed to eliminating all avoidable waste by 2050, and wants to encourage more recycling and to make it easier for households to recycle. We say more on how we will do this in our Resources and Waste Strategy which was published in December last year.
While reusable nappies may make a valuable contribution to reducing residual waste that has to be disposed of to landfill or incineration, the Government has not made a formal assessment of the environmental or financial merits of the introduction of reusable nappy schemes by local authorities.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to make an assessment of the effect on babies of (a) glyphosate and (b) other chemicals used in disposable nappies.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The UK’s product safety regimes are among the strongest in the world and we have a robust framework of chemicals regulation in place to protect human health; this includes the restriction of chemicals in certain products. General product safety is regulated by the General Product Safety Regulations 2005. They apply to all products used by consumers and place a duty on producers and distributors to ensure their products are safe in normal or reasonable foreseeable use. We have also committed in our Resources and Waste Strategy to considering how we address the identification and tracking of chemicals in products across supply chains.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to incorporate incentives to improve the accessibility and upkeep of public rights of way in any future scheme of agricultural payments.
Answered by George Eustice
The new environmental land management scheme, underpinned by natural capital principles, will contribute to delivering many of the key outcomes set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan and the Clean Growth Strategy.
As the cornerstone of future agriculture policy the new environmental land management scheme will pay public money for the provision of public goods. As set out in our consultation document Health and Harmony, the public goods incentivised by the scheme could include: biodiversity, which habitat enhancement and maintenance contribute to; cultural heritage, such as the maintenance of heritage buildings and monuments; and public access.