Topical question asked in the House of Commons, by Michael Jack (Conservative). It was answered on Thursday, 4 February 2010 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Topical Questions

Question: May I associate myself with the Secretary of State's comments about the late David Taylor? He was an exceptional member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. May I also put it to the Secretary of State that in 2015, Britain may face a new waste mountain of FM radios? If the proposal goes through to turn off the FM signal and move solely to digital, very large numbers of perfectly serviceable radios with many years of life left will simply have to be thrown away. In the context of the Digital Economy Bill and work on this area, what work will be undertaken to evaluate the sustainability and waste implications of this proposal?

Answer: The right hon. Gentleman raises an extremely good point, and I will look into this issue and come back to him. In the meantime, I hope the House will have noted that from the first of this month, we have had a system in place for recycling the very large number of batteries used—some of which go into the FM radios he referred to—in order to make it easy for consumers going back to the shops where they bought them to pop them in the bin and ensure that they are recycled.

Secondary information