Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to make recycling (a) easier and (b) cheaper for local authorities.

Simpler Recycling in England will reform the recycling system. Across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school, putting an end to the confusion over what can and cannot be recycled in different parts of the country.

We recognise that local circumstances differ across the country, and so we are making sure that councils and other waste collectors have flexibility where appropriate to make the best local choices. On 29 November we confirmed that local authorities and other waste collectors will not be required to collect waste in seven separate streams and will be able to co-collect some streams by default.

Local authorities currently fund the collection and management of household packaging waste through locally raised revenues and funding from central government. Under packaging extended producer responsibility (pEPR), the efficient costs of managing and recycling packaging waste will transfer to businesses who make and use packaging.

We have already provided £258 million of capital funding and will also be covering transitional resource costs and ongoing service costs.