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Energy Bill

My hon. Friend is right. In Vienna, there is an aesthetically as well as environmentally nice incinerator in the middle of town. People in Austria understand that the standards that the large combustion plants directive imposes on new incinerators mean that they are in more danger from airborne pollution from a neighbour who has a garden fire and throws some plastic or other waste on to it than from a properly run incinerator—not a toxic waste incinerator, but a normal domestic waste incinerator. We face quite a challenge in persuading people that such incinerators are not a threat to their health or their children's health. Indeed, it is a sensible method of harnessing the energy in waste in a way that will save not only the planet but their bills. Some local authorities—certainly in the borough of Scarborough in my constituency—go for recycling targets by, for example, targeting green waste, which many people previously simply composted in their gardens. That has increased the mass of waste that has been collected. The local authority also collects a lot of unseparated waste—thereby creating costs—which people would previously have perhaps taken to a collection area, where they could separate it themselves. The value of waste has been somewhat compromised by the wish to increase weight rather than value. We need to consider the incineration of waste and take the people with us to persuade them that it is a good thing for their community and the environment. The other way we can get energy from waste is through anaerobic digestion. Although I welcome the Bill, it is the sort of step in the right direction that a person takes when their shoe laces are tied together. I hope that we will have the opportunity in Committee to improve the measure and make it more fit for purpose.