Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, whether he has plans for (a) natural cork products and (b) products made from other natural materials to be moved to a lower fee level under that scheme when further criteria are introduced.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials are currently collating the evidence received from an extended programme of stakeholder engagement on modulated fees which was carried out over the second half of 2023. This engagement has included consideration of cork and other natural products. The Government intends to seek further stakeholder input in this area, including to further assess business impact, before finalising any proposals. The final decisions on packaging materials with increased fees will be agreed and announced by the Scheme Administrator for the UK Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to include natural cork in the list of materials to attract higher modulated fees under the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials are currently collating the evidence received from an extended programme of stakeholder engagement on modulated fees which was carried out over the second half of 2023. This engagement has included consideration of cork and other natural products. The Government intends to seek further stakeholder input in this area, including to further assess business impact, before finalising any proposals. The final decisions on packaging materials with increased fees will be agreed and announced by the Scheme Administrator for the UK Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost to local authorities of managing waste containing persistent organic pollutants.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have been working to understand the impact on local authorities of managing waste containing persistent organic pollutants and will provide an update in due course.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with local authorities on the management of waste containing persistent organic pollutants; and whether he plans to provide support to local authorities for the management of such waste.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authority representatives form part of a long-established Defra working group on the management of waste containing persistent organic pollutants. We also meet with local authority representatives separately and provide advisory support and guidance together with the Environment Agency.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many substances have been (a) grandfathered and (b) notified to UK REACH and are subject to the extended data submission deadlines in the REACH (Amendment) Regulations 2023 in the (i) one-ten, (ii) 10-100, (iii) 100-1,000 and (iv) over 1,000 tonnes per year band.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The following table shows the number of substances by tonnage band notified as of 1 August 2023 to the Health and Safety Executive as (a) having a grandfathered registration and / or (b) being included in a Downstream User Import Notification (DUIN). Each distinct substance appears no more than once in each column; where the same substance was notified multiple times it is listed in the highest notified tonnage band. Where an individual substance has been notified as having both a grandfathered registration and being subject to a DUIN it will appear once in each column.
| Grandfathered | DUIN |
1-10tpy | 1,093 | 7,765 |
10-100tpy | 818 | 3,508 |
100-1000tpy | 650 | 1,171 |
>1000tpy | 665 | 715 |
Tonnage not reported | 836 | 9,283 |
The tonnage band is not a legal requirement of notification but will be confirmed when notifications proceed to full registration.
The number of substances that are subject to full registration may be lower than the numbers set out above, as full registration is dependent on firms’ commercial decisions.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the Chemicals Strategy.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our strategy for chemicals is under careful consideration and will be relayed this year.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 4 December 2023 to Question 3959 on Dangerous Dogs, which organisations were part of the expert group convened by Defra to define the XL Bully breed type.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The organisations represented on the group included the police, local authorities, devolved administrations, and the Animal Welfare Committee, which advises the Government on animal welfare issues.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to publish additional statutory guidance for local authorities on the sorting of materials collected from households.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recently consulted on the content of the statutory guidance for Simpler Recycling. We will publish our final statutory guidance once the regulations relating to Simpler Recycling have been made.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on recycling rates of mandating the sorting of co-mingled materials collected from households under the Simpler Recycling policy.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of Simpler Recycling, we have consulted on the provision of an exemption to allow local authorities and waste collectors in England to co-collect two or more dry recyclable waste streams in the same container, and to co-collect food and garden waste together in one container, without the need for written assessment. This consultation is now closed and we are analysing the responses and feedback from stakeholders gathered through this process. We will be communicating the outcome of the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Simpler Recycling policy takes into account the expectations of consumers about what happens to items they send for recycling.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In October 2020, we amended the Environmental (England and Wales) Permitting Regulations 2016 to include a permit condition for landfill and incineration operators, meaning they cannot accept separately collected paper, metal, glass or plastic for landfill or incineration unless it has gone through some form of treatment process first and is the best environmental outcome.
Under the Environment Act 2021, recyclable household waste must be collected separately from other household waste and must be collected for recycling or composting.