Written question asked by Helen Clark (Labour) on Tuesday, 15 July 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 1 September 2003. It was answered by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Monday, 1 September 2003 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the impact of recycling targets on (a) local authority waste strategies and (b) the collection of green waste. - Includes figures.

Answer: Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of recycling targets on (a) local authority waste strategies and (b) the collection of green waste. [126716] Mr. Morley: No assessment has been made to date of the impact of the statutory recycling targets on either local authority waste strategies or the collection of green waste. Under DEFRA's Waste Implementation Programme a Local Authority Support Team has been set up to support local authorities. As part of its work, the Team is reviewing Municipal Waste Strategies, Waste Local Plans, Regional Waste Strategies arid emerging Spatial Strategies. It is intended that the Team will then give Local Authorities useful feedback on any elements within the waste strategies which might suggest that they will not reach their statutory recycling targets and on ways of addressing such problems. The number of households with a green waste collection rose from 1.6 million in 2000-01 to 3.1 million in 2001-02. The percentages of waste collection or unitary authorities collecting some green waste similarly rose from 17 per cent. in 2000-01 in 2002-03. We believe that the establishment of recycling targets will have been a contributing factor in bringing about this increase.

Secondary information