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Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Answer

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the capacity is in the United Kingdom for the reprocessing of (a) paper, (b) wood and (c) plastic. [69116] Mr. Meacher: [holding answer 11 July 2002]: The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) estimates that the UK capacity for the recycling of paper, wood and plastic is as follows: Paper _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Recycling Options 2001 est. (Kt) Newsprint 1320 Packaging 2600 Other grades e.g. tissue Tbc 3920 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Wood Capacity and utilisation estimates for the UK. Sources: Timber Packaging and Pallet Confederation (TIMCON), Wood Recyclers Assocation (WRA), Wood Panel Industries Federation (WPIF) and The Composting Association (TCA). _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Recycling Options 2001 actual (Kt) Est. capacity 2002 (Kt) Panel board manufacturing 675 750 Other mechanical recycling 30 50 Composting 65 80 770 930 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: The forecast capacities for 2002 are derived from current industry estimates that are based on prevailing economic circumstances and the availability of wood waste (predominantly packaging material) that is suitable for recycling. The actual infrastructure is capable of consuming more wood waste but its further uptake is constrained by economic and technical barriers. Plastics Capacity and utilisation estimates for the UK. Source British Plastic Federation (BPF)--Recycling Council (RC). _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Recycling stages Capacity (Kt) Utilisation (Kt) Washing 45 17 Shred/granulate 400 200 melt process 400 250 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: The utilisation level is subject to market conditions as virgin or other non recycled material can replace recycled material if it becomes cheap enough or availability of recycled drops off. The figures are derived from a market study recently delivered to WRAP for which the analysis of results is incomplete. Therefore, the information should be treated as indicative only. More detailed estimates will be generated in due course.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

69116; 390 c253-4W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Recycling Paper Plastics Timber

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk