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Metals Recycling Industry

I am not in a position to say why we did not vote against those directives. Obviously, at the time I was not the Minister involved, but I will see whether there is anything useful that I can tell the hon. Lady. What really matters is that we try to overcome any existing problems. There have been problems but we have made great efforts to deal with them, and as I said, the important markets of China and India have been secured. The hon. Lady has anticipated my comments on how we should proceed in changing the legislation. She will know that the industry is concerned that EU procedures should not delay agreement on end-of-waste criteria, and we very much agree. As she anticipated, I must be frank and say that there is some way to go before the revised directive can be adopted. The European Parliament's environment committee recently voted to adopt 81 amendments to the common position. The Second Reading in Parliament has not occurred and is scheduled to take place in June. This is a difficult issue, and the question is whether it should be resolved by comitology or co-decision. My hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test and the hon. Member for Banbury both favour comitology, but the hon. Member for Vale of York disagrees. I have to tell her that although we all appreciate the importance of transparency, there has to be some trade-off. In this case, we are concerned to make more progress, and we believe that that is what the industry is demanding of us. The Government therefore believe that comitology is the way forward. My hon. Friend asked about off-cuts of metal, which is an important question. It is obvious to all that off-cuts that are not polluted in any way remain the original resource, so we clearly ought not to classify them as waste. I can give my hon. Friend some good news. The Environment Agency will shortly publish guidance on when clean off-cuts can be reused without regulatory control. I am sure that that is what he wants; it is obviously common sense to do so. My hon. Friend went on to praise the end-of-life vehicles directive, the success of which we all very much appreciate. My constituency used to be littered with abandoned vehicles. They were removed by the local authority, which did the job efficiently and effectively but at great cost to the council tax payer. However, it is a success story, because much of that blight has now been removed from our streets. The majority of materials in such vehicles are metal. As my hon. Friend said—we all agree—they are successfully being recycled. Over the next few years we face challenging EU targets on recovery and recycling. The target to reuse, recover or recycle 95 per cent. of the materials used in a car by 2015 is demanding by any standards. The metals recycling industry is vital to meeting those demands. However, only approximately 75 per cent. of a car is estimated to be made of metal. The question raised by a number of hon. Members, including the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, is how to recycle the remaining materials. One option suggested by my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test concerned energy from waste. We expect there to be an increase in the provision of energy from waste facilities; for example, by 2020 energy recovery is expected to account for about 25 per cent. of municipal waste. A number of hon. Members, including my hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Banbury, asked whether we would support a recycling taskforce. I shall need time to consider the matter further. The question was asked also by the British Metals Recycling Association. The local provision of recycling and recovery facilities must be decided locally, and the hon. Member for Vale of York illustrated why. Nationally, a long-standing consultation group on end-of-life vehicles, including the BMRA, meets regularly. This year, a new advisory body was established on waste electrical and electronic equipment. There is also a waste strategy stakeholder forum. The House will see that a plethora of bodies is involved in recycling those materials that concern us today. We believe that together, those groups will provide the long-term strategic approach needed to enable us to achieve our targets. However, I would be happy to meet the BMRA to discuss the matter further.