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Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011

My Lords, these regulations are important. As the Minister pointed out, they transpose the Waste Framework Directive. Indeed, as the Explanatory Memorandum points out, in one way or another the fulfilment of the directive's objectives is of interest to everyone in the country—householders, local authorities, businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises, NGOs, consumer groups and so forth. I am grateful that we have had the opportunity today to look at these regulations. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, for representing the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, whose knowledge we miss on these occasions. I know that he has taken a deep interest in these issues for a long time. Despite the fact that not many noble Lords are present for this debate or have spoken, these matters are of ongoing concern. I am sure that we will return to them at many points in the future on the Floor of the House and in Grand Committee. Certainly, the Opposition will be watching progress on this important matter carefully. We are fortunate in that the Minister is in charge of this subject within the department. He is smiling—I hope that he is pleased to be in charge of it. Therefore, we are able to ask the relevant Minister the pertinent questions that need to be asked today and as this matter progresses. The Minister reminded us that the regulations re-enact, repeal or revise three predecessor directives. With the EU, it is not always a case of adding new regulations. Sometimes, it involves repealing and scrapping previous regulations. I welcome the way that this has happened. The noble Lord, Lord Tyler, mentioned that we were somewhat late in not complying with the deadline. He mentioned the infraction letter. I note that the Minister in the other place said that this was partly due to wanting to have as thorough a consultation process as possible. Obviously, I welcome the fact that a consultation has taken place. I note that the Minister in the other place also mentioned the point that was reinforced by the Minister here: that they had not wanted to gold-plate the regulations. However, I somewhat share the concern raised by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler. We are really just introducing the minimum requirements under the directive and keeping a light touch, as the Minister said. But we need to be assured that that light touch will be effective. We also want to be assured that encouragement to go beyond these requirements will be part and parcel of the system. The last time that the Minister and I discussed environmental issues, his noble friend Lord Deben was present. He gave the Minister a hard time in terms of wanting an assurance that we could move faster in future. Many of the points that he made in the debate on the draft producer responsibility regulations should be borne in mind for this debate, such as the possibility of an earlier review if necessary. In response to the noble Lord, Lord Deben, the Minister said in the previous debate that the timing and circumstances of the waste review meant that two years was an acceptable period. None the less, if there are ways in which standards can be raised more quickly, that would be of great interest to us. My honourable friend the Member for Copeland, Jamie Reed, quoted the CBI in criticising the Government’s timidity in some respects. He said that the CBI, "““rightly identified a series of quick wins that the country could secure if the Government were bolder and more ambitious—from providing massive business opportunities to helping to meet climate change targets, bolstering our energy security capability and helping to unlock infrastructure investments from the private sector””.—[Official Report, Commons, Fourth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8/3/11; col. 4.]" Obviously, the CBI’s concerns go wider than these particular than these particular regulations, but none the less it was right to stress the opportunities there are in greening the economy and getting ahead in the business of tackling waste effectively. We do not want a loss of momentum, as the noble Lord, Lord Deben, pointed out in the earlier debate. We want to keep momentum going and accelerate whenever possible. We have examples elsewhere in the EU of economies seeming to do better with environmental issues and tackling waste. The Federal Republic of Germany has a good record in this respect. It would be good to see us going up in the European league table in this connection. I do not know whether the Minister has any further update on the timing of the Government’s waste strategy. In our earlier debate, he said that it might come forward in April or May. It was not clear whether it might come forward before the local elections but, since local authorities are very much affected by these proposals, it would be interesting if the Minister could give us an indication of a precise date for the waste review. There are huge resource implications particularly for local authorities in these measures, and in that respect the impact assessment is very helpful in showing how local authorities are likely to be affected by particular aspects. But local authorities have a lot of choices in implementing these regulations and, while I can understand that it is good for them to be able to judge how best to respond to these requirements—a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler—we do not want that to be at the expense of sacrificing overall standards in making progress. So there is a bit of a dilemma, on which it would be good to hear the Minister comment. I also recognise what the Minister said about co-mingling, but evidence points to the kerbside recycling system as being better economically and environmentally. I am slightly worried that the achievement of the Government, if I can call it that, in getting co-mingling accepted at European level, might act as a disincentive to local authorities to go to what seems to be the more effective, separate kerbside collections. In separation policies there is the choice between kerbside collections and the bring-bank system—in other words, the separate banks held in a central location in a particular local authority area. I also note that the impact assessment has a variety of costs included with each of these choices. Indeed, the cost ranges are quite large, and I wondered what discussions there were with local authorities to identify ways in which to recycle most effectively but not necessarily at the higher end of the cost scale, as mentioned in the impact assessment. The target for England by 2020 is, I think, 50 per cent recycling, but the Government expect that target to be exceeded. I note that in Wales the target is 64 per cent. Does it not make sense to consider a more ambitious target in England, particularly if the Government feel that the existing target is likely to be exceeded in any case? I do not know what experience the Minister in charge has of how other countries are tackling these issues. However, it would be good to have an assurance that we will seek to learn lessons from the best-performing countries in the EU regarding this system. Having said that, these are not at all regulations that we would seek to oppose. However, there are several concerns about how we will move forward in the years ahead, which the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, and I have raised, and to which it would be good to get the Minister’s response.