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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve the consistency of household recycling collections among boroughs in London.

The Government is committed to introducing consistency in recycling in all boroughs in England including those in London. The Environment Bill seeks to introduce legislation for a core set of materials (glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food and garden waste) to be collected for recycling from households, businesses and other organisations such as schools. The Environment Bill does not require garden waste to be collected from businesses and non-domestic premises.

A core set of materials will avoid confusion amongst householders with regard to what can be recycled. This in turn will result in more materials being recycled.

The Government has committed to covering the costs of any additional burdens that local authorities face as a result of new statutory duties that require them to implement consistency.