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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of Environment Agency guidance directing that waste upholstered domestic seating containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) must be destroyed through incineration, on (1) the capacity of local authorities to provide waste collections, and (2) fly tipping.

The Environment Agency (EA) is working to tackle the illegal disposal of waste domestic seating containing large quantities of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). It has issued additional guidance to help waste holders comply with important, existing, legal requirements, which minimise the environmental impacts of POPs.

We have been working with both local authority and waste industry representatives since early 2021 to understand the impacts where changes to waste management arrangements are required and help them prepare to comply.

Many local authorities were incinerating waste upholstered domestic seating before the EA guidance was published and others took steps to do so once they became aware of the issue. This has minimised the impact on their waste collections. We expect local authorities to continue to accept waste upholstered domestic seating and to ensure they are disposing of it appropriately.

The Government recognises that this is particularly challenging for some local authorities and is currently aware of three examples of local disruption to waste collections. Officials are monitoring a number of risks, including a risk of increased fly-tipping of waste domestic seating. The EA will continue to support local authorities as they take action to comply.