Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department made of (a) residual waste excluding major mineral waste, (b) municipal residual waste, (c) residual municipal food waste per capita, (d) residual municipal plastic waste per capita, (e) municipal paper and card waste per capita, (f) residual municipal metal waste per capita and (g) residual municipal glass waste per capita in the latest year for which data is available.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The total mass of residual waste within scope of the interim targets announced in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 was a) 574 kg per person or 32.3 million tonnes, b) 468 kg per person, c) 127 kg per person, d) 75 kg per person, e) 99 kg per person, f) 16 kg per person, and g) 12 kg per person for the 2019 baseline year. Progress against these targets has not yet been reported.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the level of illegal waste disposal in Erith and Thamesmead constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency’s Kent and South London enforcement team respond to reports of illegal disposal of waste and seeks to take proactive and targeted action within the Erith and Thamesmead area.
In the last 12 months the Environment Agency have received two reports of illegal disposal of waste in the Erith and Thamesmead area. Both reports concern the illegal disposal of commercial waste by burning. The Environment Agency attended one site and since this visit, have received no further reports of burning from this location. In the case of the second report, the Environment Agency issued a letter giving advice and guidance on waste disposal to the business address of the company suspected of the burning. Since this letter was sent, they have received no further reports of burning. The Environment Agency currently have no active investigations into the illegal disposal of waste in Erith and Thamesmead area.
The Environment Agency also conducts proactive days of action to target specific waste offences and waste streams. The last day of action was held on the 18 September 2023 covering the Erith and Thamesmead areas in the London borough of Bexley. The operation was conducted in partnership with officers from Environment Agency, Metropolitan Police, Openreach and the London Borough of Bexley. The purpose was to target uninsured/unlicensed drivers and hauliers believed to be engaged in illegal waste activities. Based on intelligence the focus was on scrap metal dealers known to be operating in the Thamesmead area. The day gathered valuable intelligence and enforcement action was taken against several un-registered waste carriers.
Additionally, the latest fly-tipping incident data held by Defra shows that in 2021/22 the London Borough of Bexley reported a total of 5096 fly-tipping incidents and the London Borough of Greenwich reported a total of 8666 fly-tipping incidents. In response to these reports 407 actions were taken by the London Borough of Bexley and 918 actions by the London Borough of Greenwich.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 the Prime Minister's authored article entitled What the PM’s new approach to Net Zero means for you, published 20 September 2023, whether he had held discussions with Cabinet colleagues on potential proposals for each household to receive seven bins for domestic waste; and whether he planned to introduce legislative proposals to implement such a policy before 20 September 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.
The Environment Act as it stands would require local authorities to collect six recyclable waste streams (glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste and garden waste) separately from residual (non-recyclable) waste, and separately from each other unless there was a technical, economic or environmental exception to allow waste streams to be collected together. In practice this could sometimes lead to a situation where households would need to sort their waste into multiple different containers.
The new Simpler Recycling policy, which will shortly be announced, will ensure that local authorities retain the flexibility to collect the recyclable waste streams in the most appropriate way for their residents.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) consulting widely on the design of the Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers, (b) improving kerbside recycling and (c) increasing glass remelt targets.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
UK Government, Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland consulted in 2019 and 2021 on the detail of introducing a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In January 2023 we published the government response to the 2021 consultation, setting out policy decisions and next steps for introducing the scheme (link here). There was strong support, with 83% of consultation responses supporting the introduction of a DRS.
Defra is working closely with devolved administrations and industry to support successful DRS delivery across the UK.
Regarding kerbside recycling, following support at public consultation, new section 45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended by the Environment Act 2021) stipulates that all local authorities in England must make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from households. This core set includes: paper and card; plastic; glass; metal; food waste and garden waste. These materials must always be collected separately from residual waste so that they can be recycled. Commencement dates will be set out in regulations in due course.
In the Government response to the consultation on Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility published in March 2022 we set out our intention to increase the glass remelt target to 80% by 2030.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much (a) public and (b) private sector funding for (i) battery and (ii) electric vehicle manufacturing has been announced since July 2022.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Since July 2022, we have seen Tata Group announce an investment of over £4bn in a UK gigafactory. JLR have also announced plans to accelerate their shift to electric vehicles and have committed to a £15bn investment in their industrial footprint, vehicle programmes, autonomous, AI and digital technologies and people skills. In addition, in the wider electric vehicle manufacturing supply chain, we have seen Johnson Matthey announce an investment of over £60m in Hertfordshire to develop hydrogen technologies, Pensana announce an investment of £145m in a rare Earth metal refinery, and Ford announce a further £150m investment in Halewood to manufacture Electric Drive Units, in addition to their £227m investment announced in October 2021.
Details of our support to companies will be published in due course as part of our regular transparency data.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential of extracting valuable secondary materials from scrap steel.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra has not made a formal assessment of the potential of extracting valuable secondary materials from scrap steel.
Through the critical minerals strategy, the Government is committed to accelerating the UK’s domestic capabilities and developing a more efficient circular economy for critical minerals in the UK.
The flagship, four-year, £30m National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research Programme (NICER) is targeting funding to support innovation in advanced metal sorting techniques to promote a circular economy for metals.
Also, Innovate UK’s Circular Critical Materials Supply Chains (CLIMATES) programme is committing £15 million towards recycling critical minerals through R&D investments, skills and engagement with international partners.
Our forthcoming document “Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste” will also consider how best to prevent waste in several key economic sectors, including construction, and we are working with groups such as the Green Construction Board to realise those ambitions.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of (a) the prevalence of brake dust pollution in the UK in the last 12 months and (b) the potential merits of requiring the hard coating of brake discs to reduce that pollution; and if he will have discussions with businesses on the development of (i) laser metal deposition hard coating for brake discs and (ii) other technologies to tackle dust pollution.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Pollutant emissions from road transport are not measured directly but can be modelled using estimates of emissions factors. The UK National Atmospheric Emission Inventory (NAEI) – compiled by the National Environmental Technology Centre on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – reports data on the prevalence of brake dust pollution from UK road transport. The latest data available is for 2020 and is available online on the NAEI website.
The Department for Transport commissioned a 4-year research project in February 2021 aimed at understanding better the measurement techniques, material properties and control parameters of brake (and tyre) wear emissions from road vehicles. This work will also consider technologies aimed at reducing particle emissions from road vehicles (including brake wear).
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of changes in the level of infrastructure-related metal thefts in the last four years, and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Office for National Statistics publishes annually a time series of data on metal theft offences recorded by the police. The latest available data covering the year to March 2022 can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables
The Crime Survey for England and Wales for year to December 2022, show that overall thefts is down 47% compared with March 2010.
The Home Office provided funding in the financial year 2020-21 to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures the national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. Membership of the Partnership includes infrastructure companies such as rail, telecoms and utility companies, who work together to monitor trends in metal theft, share intelligence, target offenders and implement crime prevention measures.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions have been bought under section 146 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 in relation to the resale of scrap metal in the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Section 146 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 ‘Offence of buying scrap metal for cash etc’ was repealed by the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 under Section 12, with legislation of Section 12 now including the offences applicable to the purchasing of scrap metal.
The Ministry of Justice publishes a time series of information on the number of defendants prosecuted for offences under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 (offence code 19534), in the following tool:
A breakdown of prosecutions for offences under Section 12 of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, related to paying cash for scrap metal within the last five years, has been provided in Table 1 on a principal offence basis for all courts in England and Wales.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,if she will (a) make it his policy to require local authorities to provide blister pack recycling services and (b) issue guidance to local authorities on blister pack recycling.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following support at public consultation, the Environment Act 2021 introduced new requirements for all local authorities in England to make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from all households: paper and card; plastic; glass; metal; food waste and garden waste. In 2021 we consulted on the detail of this policy, including implementation dates and materials in scope of collection – we will publish a consultation response shortly.
Regarding blister packs, these are difficult to recycle due to the mix of different materials they are made from and, as such, tend not to be collected through kerbside recycling services. Take-back recycling schemes, such as the Terracycle scheme, can accept more complex packaging materials at dedicated recycling facilities.
The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for packaging will provide a strong financial incentive for businesses to make better, more sustainable decisions in their design and use of packaging, and to take greater responsibility for the environmental impacts of the packaging they use. As part of this policy producers of hard to recycle packaging, such as medical blister packs, who take back this packaging and have it recycled, will be eligible for a discount on their EPR disposal cost fees.