Benyon denies rift between departments over waste

Environment minister Richard Benyon has rejected claims of endless disputes between his department and the Department for Communities and Local Government over waste policy claiming that the two have a good, hard-working relationship.

His comments came during a debate on waste reduction in parliament yesterday (May 18), at whichthe ministeralso rejected suggestions that next months Waste Review would lack ambition and just be a series of case studies.

During the debate, Labour MP for Copeland, Jamie Reed, attacked the governments green credentials and ambitions for waste and pointed to long-running disputes between Defra and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) which he said usually end with outright DCLG victory.

And, he said that this had led to what many perceived as a lack of ambition over waste.

He said: Next month is the publication of the Governments much vaunted and delayed waste review, which has so far regrettably, failed to set the political world alight. Will the minister confirm that it will be more than a series of case studies, as some within Defra have been briefed?.

Mr Reed also asked if the review would include new recycling targets for local authorities and called for reassurance that England would meet the minimum requirement to recycle 50% of household waste by 2020 as set down in the Waste Framework Directive, rather than relying on a performance in Scotland and Wales – where more ambitious targets have been set -to boost the overall figure.

Benyon

Responding to this, Mr Benyon defended the governments green agenda, insisting that the waste review had environment absolutely at its heart.

He said: The hon. Member for Copeland made a number of points, and I just say this: he is rapidly running out of ideas with which to attack the government, because each time he does so we cut him off at the pass” – pointing to a long list of work the government had done on the environment since coming to office.

On the issue of departmental tension, he said: He says there are endless disputes between my department and the Department for Communities and Local Government, and I can assure him that that is not the case.

The two departments are working very closely on a great many areas, including the Localism Bill, which is currently being debated in the House and we have a good, sensible, hard-working relationship, which brings benefits both to the environment and to many other areas of our work.

Mr Benyondid notcomment on local authority recycling targets being set in England.

Prevention

During the rest of the debate, which was secured by Plaid Cymru MP for Arfon, Hywel Williams, Mr Williams urged the government to prioritise waste prevention in its forthcoming Waste Review.

He claimed that recycling, and in particular hitting recycling targets, had obsessed everyone to date but that prevention should be the number one priority, in line with the waste hierarchy.

Pointing to the fact that it is currently Real Nappy Week, he said: Real nappies will directly solve much of the landfill problem, being reused and even passed on to be reused by other children, as recently happened in my family.

This point was picked up by John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, who suggested that the promotion of resusable or ‘rea’l nappies could reduce disposable nappies by 10%, saving the country 10 million.

He said: I urge the government to enter into discussions with local authorities, the voluntary sector and private industry to see whether we can promote local schemes for reusable nappies.

Mr McDonnell added that waste prevention was approached very differently by different local authorities, and called for more standardisation: In my borough of Hillingdon…no attempt is being made to assess what could be achieved through minimisation and prevention.

During the discussion, Mr Williams also attacked the ubiquity of single-use items and the fact that some products were difficult to recycle due to their complex use of materials.He pointed to some good examples of waste reduction and recycling in his native Wales which he said might have a lot to teach England when it came to waste policy.

Concerns over incineration were also raised at the debate by MPs as a waste of resources and also on health grounds.

Response

In his response, Mr Benyon outlined his plans for the Waste Review and assured Mr Williams that his officials met regularly with those from the Welsh administration and other devolved administrations to learn about experiences elsewhere, commenting: What is important is that we are all keen to prevent waste where we can.

On the issue of nappies, he agreed that it was better to use real nappies that burying disposal ones but said he himself had not used them for his children, commenting: Reusing nappies is not a total sum-game. If we managed to persuade many more parents to reuse nappies, there would be increased use of water and possibly increased use of non-biological washing powders.

Commenting onincineration, he said: That will be clearly defined in the Waste Review; that is its purpose. However, I can say today that incineration is part of the mix and part of the waste hierarchy, as all hon. Members will know well… They are a very important part of how we deal with waste, in a society that simply cannot afford to bury it any longer.

Prevention programme

Lastly, Mr Benyonconfirmed that the government was working towards a waste prevention programme, which he said would be in place by 2013 at the latest.The government is required to produce this plan by the end of 2013under the Revised Waste Framework Directive(see letsrecycle.com story).

He said: We will set objectives to help us deliver economic growth while reducing waste and its negative impacts. We look forward to saying more when we have published our Waste Review.