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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her planned timescale is for publishing the Waste Infrastructure Roadmap; and if she will make an assessment of the level of existing waste infrastructure required to meet the Government's target to halve residual waste by 2042.

The first element of the Waste Infrastructure Roadmap will be published before the end of this year and will set out anticipated waste arisings to 2035, reflecting Defra’s Collection and Packaging Reforms (Simpler Recycling, Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging and a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers), mapping this modelling against known waste management infrastructure for various waste streams, including organic wastes, dry recyclables (paper/card, glass, textiles, metals, and plastics) and residual waste.

Once published, the intention of the first element of the Waste Infrastructure Roadmap is to provide a signal to investors as to where there is considered to be a likely over or under-provision of waste management capacity so as to target investment. The first element of the Waste Infrastructure Roadmap will not detail where or how investment should be made but is meant to be a tool to support investors and local authorities in decision making.

Those looking to invest in waste management infrastructure are encouraged to engage with the UK Infrastructure Bank.