Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
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 (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to help reduce methane emissions from (a) anthropogenic sources, (b) landfills and (c) fossil fuel production.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the UK, overall greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector have decreased by 74% since 1990. This is mostly due to the implementation of methane recovery systems at UK landfill sites, increasing landfill methane capture rates, and reductions in the amount of biodegradable waste disposed of at landfill sites. In 2022, the waste sector accounted for 4.6% of total UK territorial greenhouse gas emissions, with landfill methane emissions responsible for 80% of the sector’s emissions.
We are committed to tackling these remaining emissions and are exploring options for the near elimination of municipal biodegradable waste being sent to landfill in England from 2028, in line with the commitment in the Net Zero Strategy. Under the Government’s Simpler Recycling reforms, set out within new s45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended by the Environment Act 2021), all households, businesses and relevant non-domestic premises will be required to arrange for the collection of food waste for recycling or composting. Recycling via anaerobic digestion will produce biogas and significant carbon savings over sending food waste to landfill. To explore further measures to achieve our commitment we issued a call for evidence on 26 May 2023 to support detailed policy development. A summary of responses to this call for evidence and further information will be published in due course.
We are undertaking research to quantify site-specific methane emissions from landfill and update our understanding of residual (non-recyclable) waste composition. Both of these projects will support efforts to further reduce methane emissions from landfill sites and report our emissions in line with UNFCCC guidelines.
Defra considers that Methane Suppressing Feed Products (MSFPs) are an essential tool to decarbonise the agriculture sector. In England, our objective is to establish a mature market for these products, encourage uptake and mandate the use of MSFPs in appropriate cattle systems as soon as feasibly possible and no later than 2030. We are committed to working with farmers and industry to achieve this goal, and in early March convened the inaugural meeting of a Ministerial-led industry taskforce on MSFPs.
The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR) provide wide-ranging powers to control emissions to air, water and land from regulated installations through permits. Methane is a pollutant under the EPR and, where relevant, industrial installations must comply with EPR permit conditions to control and monitor methane.
In the 2020 Energy White Paper, the Government committed to the World Bank’s ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’ initiative which aims to eliminate routine flaring from oil production globally.
Through the North Sea Transition Deal and the industry’s subsequent Methane Action Plan, UK industry has committed further to accelerate compliance with the World Bank's initiative where possible, set a 50% methane reduction target by 2030 (against a 2018 baseline) and have adopted the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’s methane intensity target of 0.2% by 2025.
Emissions associated with methane venting and flaring are accounted for in our binding domestic carbon budgets.
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) already expects methane emissions to be as low as possible, and for all new developments to be developed on the basis of zero routine flaring and venting, (and to be either electrified or electrification-ready).
All platforms are expected to have zero routine flaring and venting from or before 2030.
The consenting process for flaring and venting is administered by the NSTA, which is working with industry to keep non-routine flaring and venting to a minimum.
The NSTA recently consulted on its draft OGA Plan, which included a section on flaring and venting. It is due to publish its response and the final OGA plan soon.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure high recycling rates under the Simpler Recycling policy; and how such rates will be assessed to give consumers confidence.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Simpler Recycling will aim to make recycling clearer and more consistent across England. All household and non-household premises (such as businesses, schools and hospitals) across England will be able to recycle the same materials in the following core groups: metal; glass; plastic; paper and card; food waste; garden waste (household only). Furthermore, packaging producers will be required to label packaging as ‘Recycle’ or ‘Do Not Recycle’ adopting a single label format which incorporates the Recycle Now symbol.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
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 through Simpler Recycling to help ensure that collected packaging waste is recycled.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Through Simpler Recycling, all household and non-household premises (such as businesses, schools and hospitals) across England will be able to recycle the same materials in the following core groups: metal; glass; plastic: paper and card; food waste; garden waste (household only). By making recycling clearer and easier, we will help reduce contamination, better preserve material value and help to grow demand for recyclables.
Furthermore, under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging, local authorities will receive payments for managing recyclable packaging waste, supporting costs associated with upgrading services and sorting infrastructure and incentivising them to deliver efficient and effective services. Under EPR, higher fees can be charged to producers for packaging that is less recyclable, incentivising them to choose readily recyclable 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, 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.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 Prime Minister's authored article entitled What the PM’s new approach to Net Zero means for you, published 20 September 2023, whether he had held discussions with Cabinet colleagues on potential proposals for each household to receive seven bins for domestic waste; and whether he planned to introduce legislative proposals to implement such a policy before 20 September 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.
The Environment Act as it stands would require local authorities to collect six recyclable waste streams (glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste and garden waste) separately from residual (non-recyclable) waste, and separately from each other unless there was a technical, economic or environmental exception to allow waste streams to be collected together. In practice this could sometimes lead to a situation where households would need to sort their waste into multiple different containers.
The new Simpler Recycling policy, which will shortly be announced, will ensure that local authorities retain the flexibility to collect the recyclable waste streams in the most appropriate way for their residents.
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 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.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Benyon on 11 September (HL Deb col 666), how many clothing retailers are using element analysis systems rather than paper trails to determine where the cotton in their products is grown.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra does not hold information on the number of retailers that are using element analysis systems to determine where cotton in their products is grown. However, Defra funds Textiles 2030 which commits signatories to meeting targets on their water and carbon usage and working towards a Circular Economy. The government’s proposals for minimising textile waste outlined in Maximising Resources Minimising Waste (MRMW) which was published in July will increase the amounts of clothing and other textiles, including ones made from cotton, that will be collected for recycling and reuse and therefore keep textiles in use for longer.
Under Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, commercial businesses who operate in the UK and have a turnover of £36m or more are required to report annually on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. The prevalence of modern slavery and complexity of global supply chains means that it is highly unlikely that any sector or company is immune from the risks of modern slavery.
The Government encourages companies to monitor their supply chains with rigor to uncover and remedy any instances of modern slavery they may find. The UK continues to support the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The UK continues to be an authority on modern slavery reporting, and we continue to share our experiences with other countries who are introducing their own transparency legislation.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,if she will (a) make it his policy to require local authorities to provide blister pack recycling services and (b) issue guidance to local authorities on blister pack recycling.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following support at public consultation, the Environment Act 2021 introduced new requirements for all local authorities in England to make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from all households: paper and card; plastic; glass; metal; food waste and garden waste. In 2021 we consulted on the detail of this policy, including implementation dates and materials in scope of collection – we will publish a consultation response shortly.
Regarding blister packs, these are difficult to recycle due to the mix of different materials they are made from and, as such, tend not to be collected through kerbside recycling services. Take-back recycling schemes, such as the Terracycle scheme, can accept more complex packaging materials at dedicated recycling facilities.
The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for packaging will provide a strong financial incentive for businesses to make better, more sustainable decisions in their design and use of packaging, and to take greater responsibility for the environmental impacts of the packaging they use. As part of this policy producers of hard to recycle packaging, such as medical blister packs, who take back this packaging and have it recycled, will be eligible for a discount on their EPR disposal cost fees.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 policy paper entitled Greening Government Commitments 2021 to 2025, published on 15 December 2022, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of including (a) reuse options in the recycling target, or (b) a separate reuse target in section B: Minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
In the Greening Government Commitments 2021 to 2025 framework, government asked departments to report on the introduction and implementation of reuse schemes for the first time. This will allow us to see how they are being implemented across government and how they fit into the waste landscape.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to help make it easier to recycle packaging waste.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following support at public consultation, the Environment Act 2021 introduced new requirements for all local authorities in England to make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from all households: paper and card; plastic; glass; metal; food waste and garden waste. All businesses in England must make ar-rangements to recycle the same set of recyclable materials, with the exception of garden waste. In 2021 we consulted on the detail of this policy, including implemen-tation dates and materials in scope of collection – we will publish a consultation re-sponse shortly.
Additionally, we intend to increase the amount of packaging that can be recycled. By March 2027, the government will require the collection of plastic film packaging for recycling from all households and businesses.
To make recycling easier, packaging producers will be required to label packaging as ‘Recycle’ or ‘Do Not Recycle’ adopting a single label format which incorporates the Recycle Now symbol. All primary and shipment packaging (except for plastic films and flexibles) will be required to be labelled by 31 March 2026. An additional year will be permitted for plastic films and flexibles (31st March 2027) to align with the re-quirement for local authorities and businesses to have recycling collections in place for these materials.