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 his Department provides to local authorities for investment in waste and recycling facilities.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government has provided local government with over £200 billion for this spending period and while councils make their own spending decisions, we would expect councils to prioritise what they do to deliver what their residents want to see and to invest in waste and recycling facilities as necessary to ensure good waste management practice.
The Government is also investing around £3 billion of grant funding in 24 Private Finance Initiative (PFI) waste infrastructure projects. These grants support infrastructure including material recovery, mechanical biological treatment and anaerobic digestion facilities, as well as implementing and expanding kerbside recycling services.
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 assessment he has made of the cost to the public purse of the introduction of separate food waste collections throughout England.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
In the supporting impact assessment to our consultation on consistency in recycling, we modelled three scenarios on how that policy could be delivered, all including separate food waste collection. In the preferred option of that impact assessment (option 3, which for local authorities includes weekly separate food waste, free garden waste, weekly dry multi-stream recycling and fortnightly residual waste collections) the overall cost to the public purse is estimated to be just under £260 million a year between 2023-2035.
This comprises: local authority initial costs and subsequent savings; lost revenue to the Exchequer from local authority and business waste diverted away from landfill; lost garden waste income to local authorities; and policy costs to Government in supporting waste collection changes to municipal business.
The full impact assessment is available from the following link: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environmental-quality/consultation-on-consistency-in-household-and-busin/supporting_documents/recycleconsistencyconsultia.pdf
We will refine our analysis based on consultation feedback and engagement with the sector.
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.