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Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Answer

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department has taken to tackle false claims of recycling achievements by the packaging industry. [183703] Mr. Morley :[holding answer 13 July 2004]: The Department, in conjunction with the Department of Trade and Industry, the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland administration, the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland has commissioned fact-finding exercises to establish whether there is any substance to the allegations of inappropriate issuing of Packaging Waste Recovery Notes (PRNs) and Packaging Waste Export Recovery Notes (PERNs) by some packaging waste reprocessors and exporters. The first fact finding exercise took place last year and investigated the wood packaging waste sector. On completion of the exercise, the fact finding team presented their findings in a report which can be found on the Department's website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/ environment/waste/topics/packaging/index.htm During the course of the exercise the team established that there were no inappropriate operations of the kind that might warrant criminal proceedings. However, some assumptions were being made, for example about the tonnages of packaging waste in mixed loads, that were unrealistic or were made on the basis of insufficient evidence. The team therefore recommended that the amount of wood packaging waste recycled in 2002 should be reduced by 76,400 tonnes. This was done. The second fact finding exercise is currently focussing on the plastic packaging waste sector and the findings will be announced shortly.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

183703; 424 c259W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Fraud Industry Recycling Packaging Plastics Standards Timber

Link

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