Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what additional financial support his Department plans to provide to waste and recycling facilities in the UK as a result of the ban by China on importing certain types of waste.

The Secretary of State set out the Government’s position in a Written Ministerial Statement on 08 January:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-01-08/HCWS391

We are actively monitoring the exports of waste and likely needs for temporary storage and alternative methods of dealing with waste that cannot be recycled. Current indications are that industry is looking for alternative ways of dealing with the recycled material, including finding alternative markets. We will continue to review the situation as the impacts of the changes manifest.

Given the current situation we are not currently expecting to fund additional domestic waste processing and at present there are no plans to provide further financial support to waste and recycling facilities in the UK as a result of the changes to Chinese import policies.