Environment secretary Caroline Spelman came under fire in the House of Commons last week (June 30) for the governments decision not to introduce a specific recycling target for England in last months Waste Review.
Shadow waste and recycling minister Jamie Reed claimed not introducing targets above the 50% household waste recycling goal the UK as a whole has to meet by 2020 meant Englands waste industry would miss out on jobs and investment.
And, he contrasted it unfavourably with the targets set by the devolved administrations, with both Wales and Scotland aiming for a 70% recycling rate by 2025 and Northern Ireland considering setting a 60% goal for 2020.
Mr Reed asked: Will the Secretary of State tell the House why she has scrapped recycling targets for England? Will she also publish an assessment of how many English jobs will not now be created, and how much investment in the waste industry will not now be made, as a result of her decision?
His comments were echoed by the former waste and recycling minister Joan Ruddock, who also used last weeks Commons Environment Question Time to call on Mrs Spelman to adopt Friends of the Earths proposals to halve residual waste by 2020.
Relating the situation to Mrs Spelmans relationship with Communities secretary Eric Pickles, she asked: Is it the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who has crushed her ambition and vetoed a target for recycling in this country?
In response, Mrs Spelman described Mr Reeds comments as a gross distortion of the waste review, and highlighted the role that she believed the revised Waste Framework Directives 50% target would play in improving recycling performance.
We have not scrapped recycling targets; we are committed to EU targets for recycling, she said. In addition, we have more ambition with regard to landfill, which exceeds the ambition of the previous Government and involves proposals not to bury metal and wood in landfill.
Distorting
Explaining why the government had not introduced more specific targets for England, Mrs Spelman added: If targets are too specific they can be distorting, driving councils to meet centrally imposed indicators instead of doing what is best for their local circumstances.
A good example of that was the landfill allowance trading scheme, which led to the anomaly of disincentivising the recycling of business waste.
However, her comments were questioned by Mr Reed after the debate. He said: Caroline Spelman either isn’t aware or can’t accept that her own waste review has abandoned recycling targets for England.
Claiming that, as well creating thousands of jobs, the more ambitious targets set by the devolved administration would help to rebalance the economy, he said: The government is squandering the opportunity to create these jobs and deterring investment. England deserves better.
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