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Amendments made: No. 26, in page 20, line 36, at end insert—
'(7) For the purposes of this Schedule a person does not distribute printed matter if the distribution takes place inside a public service vehicle (within the meaning of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981).'.
No. 27, in page 22, line 3, after 'person', insert
'or any other person (identified specifically or by description)'.—[Alun Michael.]
21 Feb 2005 : Column 65
Amendments made: No. 22, in page 28, line 17, leave out 'fly-posting (or both)' and insert
'any poster or flyer the display of which contravenes regulations under section 220 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990'.
No. 23, in page 28, leave out lines 18 to 21.—[Alun Michael.]
'(1) The Secretary of State shall consult waste collection and waste disposal authorities on the introduction of statutory targets for the minimisation of municipal waste.
(2) The Secretary of State shall consult representatives of industry on the potential for minimisation of waste of—
(a) statutory waste minimisation targets;
(b) statutory requirements for substitution of materials that are hazardous, difficult to recover, or difficult to recycle; and
(c) market incentives to promote the redesigning of products to extend their useful life and limit unrecoverable waste.'. —[Sue Doughty.]
Brought up, and read the First time.
Sue Doughty : I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Alan Haselhurst): With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: New clause 16—Waste disposal contracts' compatibility with statutory performance standards and local waste development frameworks—
'The Secretary of State may make orders requiring local authorities that have contracts transferring waste disposal functions to specially formed companies to review those contracts to ensure compatibility with statutory performance standards and local waste development frameworks.'.
New clause 17—Retail packaging recovery—
'(1) A relevant retailer shall provide a safe collection point within the curtilage of each of his retail outlets for the return of packaging sold or otherwise supplied from that outlet in the course of business.
(2) A collection point under subsection (1) shall be clearly signed and shall be open to the public during all business hours.
(3) A relevant retailer shall ensure that packaging collected under the provisions of section (1) above—
(a) where reasonably practicable, is reused, returned to the supplier or recycled; or
(b) in any other circumstances, is safely disposed of using a licensed waste disposal contractor.
(4) The Secretary of State may make regulations for the purposes of subsections (1) to (3) above.
(5) In this section—
"packaging" means any container, material, substance or component supplied with a product but which is not a part of that product;"relevant retailer" means a person who carries on a business in a premises which—
(a) is approved for that purpose under Planning Use Class A1, A2 or A3, and
(b) has a net retail sales area greater than 250 square metres.'.
21 Feb 2005 : Column 66
New clause 18—Sustainability requirement for waste disposal functions—
'(1) The Secretary of State may make regulations to require that, where a waste disposal authority enters into a contract with a third party for all, or any part of, its waste disposal duties, minimum environmental sustainability requirements shall be met.
(2) Regulations under subsection (1) may have particular regard to—
(a) the effect of the duration of a contract on waste minimisation;
(b) the effect of the duration of a contract on diversion of waste from disposal to reuse or recycling;
(c) the application of the proximity principle;
(d) the energy efficiency of facilities;
(e) the involvement of sustainability advisers at evaluation stage for bids for waste disposal contracts;
(f) the use of mandatory outcome-based requirements for sustainability objectives.'.
Amendment No. 37, in page 31, line 29, clause 37, leave out
'is being or is about to be'
Amendment No. 29, in page 46, line 31, clause 50, at end insert
', in subsection (7)(c) after "authority", leave out "may" and insert "shall".'.
Sue Doughty: The purpose of tabling these new clauses and amendments is to consider the problem of waste disposal. New clause 15 considers waste minimisation.
It would be wrong not to give the Government credit for the work of the waste and resources action programme, which is working hard on waste minimisation. We know that the waste strategy 2000 identifies both eco-design and redesign as ways to reduce waste, but we need to go further. WRAP is well supported by the Government, but it can only go so far. Waste minimisation needs to be taken further. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is ending its support for Waste Watch, which was doing valuable work in education. Having considered the previous group of new clauses and amendments on littering and so on, it is clear that education was one of the Government's tools, and not supporting Waste Watch will reduce the effectiveness of that.
6.15 pm
We have a real problem, however, with the continuing rise in the total amount of municipal waste, which in 2002–03 was an estimated 29.3 million tonnes—an increase of 1.8 per cent. on the 2001–02 figure of 28.8 million tonnes. Although we are making progress in decoupling the rise in waste from economic growth, which is healthy, we need to go further and consider waste minimisation targets. WRAP is getting work done on redesign, but it can only provide a certain level of stimulation for redesign in relation to the waste minimisation needed if we are to achieve sustainability.
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