Recycling: Wales

Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury Excerpts

Wednesday 13th July 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, I am very happy to endorse what the noble Baroness has said. My brief tells me that Denbighshire and Pembrokeshire have recycling rates of over 65%. These are the sorts of figures that we want to see all across the country. There are local authorities in England that have figures in excess of that, but we want to make sure that this is a common percentage.

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

What more can be done to encourage the worst-performing councils to learn from the best practice of the best-performing councils?

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, I agree with my noble friend; we need to ensure that. One of the great features that we are now seeing is the partnerships created by local authorities. In Kent, Surrey, Greater Manchester and Somerset, partnerships of local authorities are working together, bringing a common standard, consistency and higher recycling rates. In Parliament, we have a target of recycling 75% of our waste. We are up to 63% now—we were at 47% in 2008-09—but we have more to do.