Examination of Witnesses (Questions 251
- 259)
TUESDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2000
MR MICHAEL
PASKE, DR
DIANE MITCHELL
AND MR
MICHAEL PAYNE
Chairman
251. Can I welcome you to the second session
this morning and can I ask you to identify yourselves for the
record, please?
(Mr Paske) Thank you, Chairman. My name is Michael
Paske, and I am the Vice President of the National Farmers' Union.
(Mr Payne) I am Michael Payne. I am an environmental
consultant, engaged by the National Farmers' Union.
(Dr Mitchell) Diane Mitchell, an Environment Management
Adviser with the National Farmers' Union.
252. Thank you very much. Now do you want to
say anything by way of introduction, or are you quite happy for
us to go straight to questions?
(Mr Paske) I am quite happy to go straight into questions,
thank you, Chairman.
Mr Olner
253. The NFU writes in that there are currently
few incentives for farmers to address the quantity of non-natural
waste they produce. If there are to be any incentives for them,
what form should they take?
(Mr Paske) We certainly have made that point in our
written submission, and I would like to ask Michael Payne to amplify
on that, please.
(Mr Payne) Could I just give a little bit of context
to our view on that. The sector is about to be subjected to waste
management licensing for the first time, so that previously the
farmers have disposed of waste on farm; this will probably be
able to continue for organic wastes generated on farm, because
they have beneficial uses, but the non-natural wastes will almost
certainly have to be exported off farm, on a completely new basis,
and we are talking about tens, hundreds of thousands of tonnes
of materials here. And so we have got a situation where we have
got all these materials to be exported off farm, with no track
record. So what farmers are going to need is new arrangements
to help them find the most suitable routes to encourage the recycling
and better use of these materials.
Chairman
254. Can you give us just a few examples of
what these materials are?
(Mr Payne) Yes. There are plastics, for example, used
for wrapping silage bales; there are perhaps 20,000 or 30,000
tonnes of this material every year. The industry has tried a number
of voluntary recycling initiatives, over recent years, but these
have not been terribly successful, not for lack of support from
farmers, but through the problems with the levy which was originally
imposed on the raw material, where UK producers were undercut
by importers who would not add the levy, and thereby undermining
the whole scheme. And a very similar scheme has now been adopted
in Ireland, but with legislative back-up to ensure that everybody
charges the levy, and therefore the scheme is sustainable.
Mr Olner
255. But could not the NFU talk to some of these
manufacturers and have this packaging in a material that was biodegradable?
(Mr Paske) No. Can I answer that. I have personally
been involved in the commercial recycling of plastic waste such
as this, and, of course, the one thing that biodegradables, in
that sense, would just not be is acceptable, because one does
not know the length of time that they are actually going to be
held in that form. But Michael was quite right in the point that
he was making about the commercial viability of these recycling
schemes, that the successful scheme which is currently in operation
in Ireland is successful simply because there are a number of
contributions; first of all, to collect the waste from farmers,
so that the farmers are not actually involved in any expenses
themselves, and there is also a deposit paid on the raw material
when it actually comes to the farm, which is then refunded when
the material goes away for recycling. And, of course, what you
are talking about here is, I am sure you are all well aware, with
these big wraps that go round these bales, this material is filthy
dirty, and, actually, when it comes to recycling it, it is exceedingly
difficult, obviously, because of all the contaminants from the
soil, and what have you, that are actually on it. So it is a very
difficult product actually to handle.
256. Do you think MAFF should be giving advice
in extending its farm waste management plan?
(Mr Paske) We certainly feel that is the case, and,
again, I would like to ask you, Michael, if you would amplify
on that, please.
(Mr Payne) Yes. MAFF does give advice on farm waste
management plans in selected areas at the moment, but that free
advice is not available to all farmers across the whole country.
But farm waste management plans are confined to organic materials
and they do not actually address the materials which are going
to become the real issues, the non-natural materials, the glass,
the medicinal, veterinary products, the plastics.
257. But Mr Paske, I think, mentioned, surely
the answer is with the suppliers, where they have to pay a deposit;
this is not rocket science, you just take it back and get money?
(Mr Paske) These are the incentives that we have been
referring to, that are not in place at the present moment, but
certainly if those incentives were in place, backed up by some
sort of statutory arrangement, then obviously we would suspect
that the recycling schemes which are in operation, as I say, in
the Republic of Ireland at the present moment could be reproduced
over here. In fact, at the present moment, that material is actually
being recycled in the United Kingdom.
Mr Blunt
258. What barriers are there currently to the
use of on-farm composting and other techniques, such as anaerobic
digestion?
(Mr Paske) Could I ask Diane Mitchell to take that
one up, please.
259. And perhaps you can then add to that, how
can these barriers be overcome?
(Dr Mitchell) The current barriers, at the moment,
to those wanting to undertake composting: for those wanting to
undertake composting under an exemption, there are a number of
barriers, one of which was picked up by the Community Composting
Network, in that the exemptions are currently being reviewed by
the Government, and the consultation has been expected for quite
some time. If farmers are to make decisions about undertaking
composting under an exemption, they need to know if the Government
want to amend or change the exemptions as they stand at the moment.
I have dealt with a number of members who have concerns about
planning requirements under an exemption as well; in some areas,
the local planning authority requires the farmer to have planning
permission, and in other areas this is not the case, so clarification
is needed on whether planning permission is needed. There is also
a lack of guidance for those undertaking on-farm composting; farmers
need more information and better guidance, particularly in relation
to the various types of waste that they can accept, the amounts
of compost they can use and what the benefits are of using this
type of material.
|
