Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Eric Illsley (Labour). It was answered on Thursday, 4 February 2010 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Recycling (Local Authorities)

Question: Is it not the case, however, that vast quantities of material collected for recycling cannot be recycled by industry, because the quality is not good enough? We are landfilling glass, which is completely recyclable, and exporting paper to China in order to meet our recycling targets, because there is not sufficient recycling capacity in this country. Will my hon. Friend meet representatives of the packaging industries to discuss these issues before our recycling targets are increased further?

Answer: I am always happy to meet those who are worried about this issue. They are right to have concerns, and we will certainly continue to consult thoroughly on this. However, figures released only this morning show that recycling has gone up to 38.3 per cent., so we are well on the way to meeting our 40 per cent. target for this year. That is encouraging, but creating better quality waste makes it more valuable, and that should be an incentive for local authorities and others to work harder.

Secondary information