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55W
Written Answers
26 OCTOBER 2009
Written Answers
56W
Authority
Percentage of waste sent to
landfill in 2006-07
Percentage of waste sent to
landfill in 2007-08
Difference between 2006-07 and
2007-08
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 69.45 73.42 3.97
Sheffield City Council 14.55 16.38 1.83
Southampton City Council 17.72 22.29 4.57
Southwark LB 48.81 53.16 4.35
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council 10.54 13.96 3.41
Torbay Council 67.97 71.19 3.22
Tower Hamlets LB 83.08 88.66 5.58
Wiltshire County Council 60.16 61.24 1.09
Wolverhampton MBC 17.30 22.13 4.84
Source:
WasteDataFlow
Litter: Rural Areas
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he
plans to take to reduce the incidence of littering in
rural areas. [294995]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government’s policy on tackling
litter applies to all communities. There is no excuse for
littering and local authorities have been given powers to
deal with litterers, most recently through the Clean
Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. Littering
is an offence and if convicted in a magistrates court an
offender may receive a fine of up to £2,500 and a
criminal record. As an alternative, local authorities
have powers to issue on the spot fines of up to £80. The
2005 Act includes a power for parish councils to issue
on the spot fines for littering the first time.
Through its annual grant to the charity Keep Britain
Tidy, the Government campaign for behaviour change
on litter. Campaigns like The Big Tidy Up and the
Eco-Schools programme raise awareness of the issue,
and get communities and individuals actively involved
in clean-ups, in understanding the impact of littering
and taking greater responsibility for their neighbourhoods.
Local Government Association
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to
the Answer to the hon. Member for Meriden of 15 July
2009, Official Report, column 443W, on the Local
Government Association, what guidance his Department
has provided on the status of the Local Government
Association in respect of the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004. [294779]
Dan Norris: My Department has not provided any
guidance on the status of the Local Government
Association in respect of the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIRs).
Guidance on which bodies may be public authorities
under the EIRs is publicly available on the DEFRA
website at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/policy/opengov/eir/
guidance/full-guidance/pdf/guidance-2.pdf
Pigs
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent
assessment he has made of the (a) costs and (b)
benefits of maintaining the ban on raising pigs on swill.
[295475]
Jim Fitzpatrick: No formal assessment has been made.
However, at the time when the ban was introduced in
2001, around 70 swill processors lost trade and around
90 swill feeders had to find alternative sources of feed.
Restaurants, kitchens and factories producing food also
had to find alternative disposal routes. These bodies
have subsequently adapted to the new rules and so a
cost comparison between then and now would be difficult
to make.
The benefits of maintaining the ban remain primarily
the prevention of disease spread. As the 2001 Foot and
Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak demonstrated, the
financial and practical consequences of one mistake in
swill feeding can be enormous and potentially far outweigh
the costs above. This FMD outbreak, the cause of
which was thought to be the feeding of unprocessed
swill to pigs, is estimated to have cost in the region of £8
billion (including indirect costs) and the potential for
re-introducing the disease by livestock being illegally
fed on infected meat is a constant and on-going concern.
For this reason, the Government support a maintenance
of the EU wide ban which is now in place.
Recycling
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he plans
to introduce quotas on the minimum amount of
recycled material to be used in (a) motor vehicle
manufacture and (b) manufactured goods; and if he
will make a statement. [295590]
Dan Norris: There are no such plans.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion
of waste was (a) recycled and (b) composted in
2007-08 in each local authority area. [295798]
Dan Norris: I have asked for the list of local authorities
ranked by waste recycled and composted in 2007-08 to
be placed in the Library of the House.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which local
authorities recycled or composted a smaller proportion
of their total waste in 2007-08 than in 2006-07.
[295847]
Dan Norris: The following table shows the English
local authorities that composted a smaller proportion
of their total household waste in 2007-08 than in 2006-07.