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19 Dec 2005 : Column 2389W—continued
Rape Seed Oil
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much rape seed oil was produced in the UK in each of the last five years. [37443]
Jim Knight: Published annual data on the amount of crude rape seed oil produced in the UK are available up to 2003 and are presented in the following table. The rape seed crushed by UK crushers may be sourced from the UK or overseas.
| Tonnes(15) | |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 669.4 |
| 1999 | 634.1 |
| 2000 | 615.6 |
| 2001 | 588.5 |
| 2002 | 609.3 |
| 2003 | 597.8 |
(15)DEFRA survey of oilseeds and nuts crushed in the United Kingdom and the crude vegetable oils, oilcake and meal produced
Crude oil may be further processed or refined, to produce partly processed and refined deodorised rape seed oil. The crude rape seed oil processed by UK
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hardeners and refiners may be sourced from the UK or overseas. Published annual data on the output of refined deodorised rape seed oil in the UK are available up to 2003 and are presented in the following table.
| Tonnes(16) | |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 720.6 |
| 1999 | 762.9 |
| 2000 | 700.7 |
| 2001 | 627.9 |
| 2002 | 604.5 |
| 2003 | 546.9 |
(16)DEFRA survey of the output of refined, deodorised vegetable oils, marine oils and animal fats by United Kingdom processing plants
This information including the historical data series is published on the DEFRA website and can be found at: http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/datasets/histoils.xls
Recycling
Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to promote the separate collection and recycling of paper and other materials from small and medium-sized businesses; whether her Department has set targets for such recycling; and if she will make a statement. [34860]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 12 December 2005]: The Government aim to have reduced the amount of commercial and industrial waste going to landfill to 85 per cent. of the 1998 level by 2005. The recent Environment Agency report, published this month, showed waste recovery rates were at record levels in 2004, with 53 per cent. of all business waste recycled or re-used.
The main incentive for businesses to recycle more is economic. The landfill tax is increasing the cost of waste disposal and thus providing the waste management industry with a strong incentive to offer separate collection facilities for businesses.
£43 million from the landfill tax escalator was fed back into business via the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) programme to fund a variety of initiatives such as Envirowise, which advises and supports businesses who want to improve their recycling performance.
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 have set targets to obligated businesses for recycling paper packaging waste, peaking at 70 per cent. in 2008. To create stable and efficient markets for recycled materials such as paper, Government have established the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Clean source separation of paper and other recyclates is a well recognised factor in obtaining best prices.
WRAP is currently undertaking a study aimed at finding ways to overcome the barriers currently inhibiting adequate provision of recycling services for SMEs, and to improve their capacity to recycle more waste. The study is funded by BREW. WRAP intend to deliver a series of trials to collect materials for recycling from SMEs that presently receive no recycling services.
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Trials are expected to continue until summer 2006 after which WRAP will produce a final feasibility study report based on their findings.
Plastic Packaging
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much plastic packaging has been (a) recovered and (b) recycled in each of the last seven years. [37604]
Mr. Bradshaw: The amount of plastic packaging waste that was recovered and recycled in the last seven years was as follows:
| Recycled | Energy recovery(17) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 125,539 | 201,759 |
| 1999 | 198,461 | 223,321 |
| 2000 | 204,430 | 225,021 |
| 2001 | 269,962 | 231,273 |
| 2002 | 360,418 | 262,953 |
| 2003 | 321,205 | 269,721 |
| 2004 | 344,317 | 271,260 |
(17)Under the UK packaging regulations the amount of packaging waste recovered in the form of energy is not identified by packaging material. However, the Environment Agency estimates that about 45 per cent. of the packaging waste recovered in the form of energy was plastic packaging waste.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from where plastic recycling schemes are being operated; and whether her Department has assisted each scheme (a) financially and (b) through the provision of advice. [35778]
Mr. Bradshaw:
A recent survey commissioned by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) showed that 73 per cent. of all UK local authorities offer some sort of plastic collection scheme. This year Defra is providing nearly £2 million under the Waste
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Implementation Programme to support ROTATE, WRAP'S local authority advisory service. Under ROTATE WRAP have advised several English local authorities on kerbside collection of plastics, in particular how they might add plastic to existing kerbside collection schemes. Advice has been provided to South Gloucestershire, London borough of Richmond, Telford and Wrekin, Tonbridge and Malling, Guildford, Southwark and Cheshire County along with the constituent collection authorities.
Roadside Pollution Units
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many roadside pollution monitoring units there are in each local authority in England; what pollutants they monitor; and what criteria govern their placement. [37774]
Mr. Bradshaw: There are 17 roadside sites in the National Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN; See Table 1), monitoring mainly oxides of nitrogen and carbon monoxide. There are a large number of roadside sites run by local authorities which are not in the AURN. Data from and site information on all the national monitoring sites are available on the National Air Quality Information Archive (www.airquality.co.uk).
Local authorities have a duty to Review and Assess air quality in their areas. This often involves monitoring of oxides of nitrogen, PM 1 0 and other pollutants at roadside locations. While DEFRA is a statutory consultee for local authority reports on air quality, monitoring results are made available to the public by local authorities. DEFRA does not log the monitoring information from these assessments. A partial survey of monitoring sites in the UK was carried out in November 2003. This estimated the total number of monitoring sites in the UK at around 6–700. A large proportion of these are likely to be roadside sites.
(18)Oxides of nitrogen include nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 )
The criteria for defining a site as Roadside is as follows: the site must be between 1 m from the kerb of a busy road and the back of the pavement. Sites are typically within 5 m of the road with a sampling height of 2 to 3 m.
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