Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 18 of her Department’s Greening Government Commitments Annual Report April 2020 to March 2021, published April 2023, what steps her Department is taking to decrease the proportion of its waste that goes to landfill.
Defra sends around 18.5% of its waste to landfill. A large proportion of this is end-of-life timber from our forestry and national park land holdings (such as gates and fences). This timber is chemically treated, which vastly extends its life but means it can only be landfilled or incinerated. We are working with the affected bodies to move the waste treatment of these items up the waste hierarchy away from landfill.