Written question asked by David Drew (Labour) on Monday, 13 December 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 21 December 2004. It was answered by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Tuesday, 21 December 2004 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 plans she has to introduce a new plastics recovery programme. - Inc fact that written statement on 9 December 2004, 428 c106-7WS announced for consultation the draft Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 and consultation paper is in the Library and on Department's website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/agwaste-regs/index .htm.

Answer: Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to introduce a new plastics recovery programme. [205498] Mr. Morley: On 9 December 2004, Official Report, column 106WS, I announced that the Government had published for consultation the draft Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2005. One of the main purposes of the draft Regulations is to repeal the current exclusion in section 75(7)(c) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and to apply to agricultural waste the national controls that are already in place to comply with the waste framework directive and the landfill directive. The consultation paper is available in the Library of the House and on my Department's website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/agwaste- regs/index.htm. Chapter 8 of the consultation paper discusses the introduction of a voluntary or statutory producer responsibility scheme for the collection and recovery of non-packaging plastic waste from farms. Views are invited by 18 March 2005. Plastic packaging waste from farms and elsewhere is already the subject of the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 (as amended).

Secondary information