Fridge funding ahead as committee hears of UK failure over sustainability

But, contrary to some reports in the press any announcement is unlikely before mid-April and the sums involved may be less than expected.

Costs for recycling a fridge have ranged in forecasts from 15-30 and ministers are hoping that as more plant comes on stream to handle fridges, prices will become more competitive.

Meanwhile, a House of Commons scrutiny of the fridge saga is continuing. Yesterday it was the turn of Peter Jones, development director for Biffa, and EU officials to give evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

Mr Jones told the committee that the essence of the issue was that fridges just happened “to be the fall guys for the failures in developing a more strategic framework for the delivery of true sustainability for UK plc.”

Boundaries
He explained: “Those failures focus on unclear responsibilities for boundaries between government departments, failures by the regulators to provide a coherent framework of standards for technology installation and operation and a lack of roundtabling of most appropriate funding systems to deliver end of life management.”

And, Mr Jones told letsrecycle.com that clear drivers from the EU over fridges “seem to have run into sand traps at the side of the road as far as the UK is concerned.”