Committee Stage for Recycling Bill

On Tuesday 10th June the doorstep recycling Bill passed through the Parliamentary Standing Committee - boosted by all important Government support. The Bill calls for all households to have access to doorstep recycling by 2010, with a minimum of two recyclates being collected plus compost.

The sponsor of the Bill Joan Ruddock MP, with the help of Friends of the Earth, achieved Government commitment to the Bill prior to the Committee date. The then Environment Minister, Mr Michael Meacher, amended the Bill to ensure all those who receive normal refuse waste collections, should also have access to doorstep recycling - thus returning the Bill to it's original form as proposed by Friends of the Earth.

The Household Recycling Bill, as it is now known, was widely supported across the Committee irrespective of political allegiances.

It is a great credit to [Joan Ruddock] and to the support that she has received from Friends of the Earth that we now have a glimmer of hope of putting the Bill on the statute book.

Greg Barker MP - Acting Tory Environment Spokesperson

There was much debate within the Committee in regards to just two recyclates being the minimum collected. Mr Barker argued that there was "firm evidence to show that, if the variety [of recyclates] is increased, the volume increases". Jonathan Sayeed MP referred the Committee to the top recycling council in the country - Daventry - which offers 7 recyclates in it's doorstep service. Mr Meacher appeased all however, when he emphasised that the Bill called for "not just two but at least two waste streams".

The one sticking point left to tackle before the Report Stage is the inclusion of Wales and Northern Ireland - Friends of the Earth are urging Ministers and the Assemblies to find a way around the constitutional arrangements in each of these countries, to ensure their residents are able to recycle as easily as fellow citizens in England and Scotland.

The Bill has a strong chance of passing through the Report Stage, scheduled for 11th July, and then it's onwards to the House of Lords.

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