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 encourage recycling.

The Government works with local authorities and the Waste and Recycling Action Programme (WRAP) to provide advice and promote best practice among local authorities on waste and recycling. The UK recycling rate has increased from 11% in 2000 to 44.9% in 2014. This progress is thanks in large part to the hard work of local authorities and householders to recycle more.

Greater consistency in local authority recycling – taking account of best practice – in particular has potential to increase recycling rates further. I have asked WRAP to work with an Advisory Group of waste stakeholders, to look at the benefits and opportunities from having greater consistency in the materials collected and collection systems to enable local authorities to recycle more, and to make it easier for householders to put the right materials in the right bin. This work will seek to improve the quality and quantity of materials recycled and to deliver value for money for local authorities. This not only includes opportunities for local authorities, but also what actions can be taken by waste producers and reprocessors to support greater consistency and increased recycling.