Parliamentary support for doorstep recycling Bill threatened by Iraqi crisis

Introduced into the house by Labour back-bencher Joan Ruddock, the Bill dubbed the “doorstep recycling Bill” would make local authorities provide kerbside recycling collections for all UK households.

But the Bill's second reading is taking place on a Friday – traditionally the day of the week many MPs spend in their constituencies – which will make it harder to get sufficient MPs to attend the reading of the Bill. The bigger concern of those supporting the Bill, however, is that the possible war with Iraq will take MPs' minds away from the recycling Bill.

Campaigners also fear the strong possibility of Prime Minister Tony Blair recalling Parliament on Saturday is making some MPs reconsider their decisions to attend Parliament for the recycling Bill the day before.

Pressure
The campaign has been actively led by pressure group Friends of the Earth, who held a rally earlier this year in support of the Bill (see letsrecycle.com story), in which members of the public met with their local MPs to demand they support the Bill at its second reading on March 13th.

Friends of the Earth have a list of 61 MPs on its website that have promised to attend the reading, but there needs to be at least 100 present in support of the Bill to prevent an anti-recycling MP from “talking over” the Bill and scuppering its chances.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, FoE Parliamentary Campaigns spokesman Martyn Williams said that Friends of the Earth now had “close to 100” MPs who had promised to be there, with many more backing the campaign without providing any solid guarantees.

Mr Williams said: “A massive majority of MPs – 426 in all, that's well over two-thirds of the House – have now backed the campaign and so we hope and expect to have a very successful debate on Friday.”

Government
The Bill's success is also likely to depend on whether the government decides to support it at the second reading. However, the Bill has only just been drafted, and until the government has looked over the details, it is very wary about pledging any kind of support.

A government spokesman told letsrecycle.com: “Until we know the final details we are not in a position to make a decision on supporting it or not. A blanket kerbside recycling collection initiative would benefit some areas, but in some high-rise areas it would be extremely difficult to implement, so we wait with interest to see the final details.”