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‘No publication date’ for consistency response, Pow says

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has not set a date for the publication of the results of its consultation on consistency in recycling in England, according to Rebecca Pow.

All councils by 31 March 2026 will be required to collect glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste and garden waste

On 14 November, Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem MP for St Albans, asked Defra on what date the government planned to publish the results of the consultation.

Yesterday (24 November), recycling minister Ms Pow replied: “A date for publication has not yet been set.”

Her response will undoubtedly cause some consternation to local authorities who are waiting to see the outcome of the consultation before procuring new contracts.

Consultation

Defra first consulted on increasing consistency in recycling to reduce confusion around the materials that can be collected for recycling at the kerbside in 2019.

Rebecca Pow is recycling minister

The department ran a second consultation on specific policy proposals for increasing consistency in recycling collected from households, businesses and other organisations between May and July 2021.

The government was expected to publish its official response to the consultation at the same time as its response to its consultation on extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging. However, the document did not appear when the EPR response was issued in March (see letsrecycle.com story).

In October, Dr Barbara Leach, Defra’s head of resources and waste strategy evaluation, told the LARAC Conference in Birmingham the government would publish the consistency response in 2022, though she declined to be more specific.

Consistency

Once published, the consultation response will shed light on proposals around topics such as the frequency of waste collections and how future rules around new technically, environmentally and economically practicable (TEEP) assessments might work.

The environment act of 2021 requires all local authorities to arrange for the collection of glass, metal, plastic, and paper and card from households for recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).

The consultation response will explain the materials to be included in each of the dry recyclable waste streams, timelines for when the requirements must be implemented by and any possible exemptions.

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