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11 Nov 2008 : Column 1013W—continued
Shellfish: Colchester
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made in obtaining protected geographical indication status for the Colchester oyster. [232491]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 3 November 2008]: Officials met with representatives of the applicant group in May 2007 to discuss the outstanding points relating to the product specification for the Colchester Native Oyster. Following that meeting, some further information relating to the geographical area and other aspects of the application was sought from the applicant group. Unfortunately, despite regular reminders from officials (most recently in early October 2008), that information has not been forthcoming. This means that it has not been possible to complete our assessment of the validity of the application for protected geographical indication status for the Colchester Native Oyster. We will continue to pursue this with the applicant group.
Thames Estuary: Environment Protection
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been spent in managing the Thames Estuary in each of the last five years. [231911]
Jane Kennedy: The Environment Agency's total expenditure for flood risk management for the Thames Estuary in each of the last five years is shown in the following table.
| Total | |
Total expenditure includes capital and revenue figures. Capital expenditure includes schemes land capital replacement. Revenue expenditure includes operating, maintaining and inspecting structures including the Thames Barrier, Barking Barrier, Dartford Creek Barrier and associated floodgates and floodwalls.
The geographical area of expenditure is the Thames Estuary from Teddington to Kingsnorth Power Station on the south bank and Teddington to Wakering on the north bank.
In addition the Environment Agency has a £16 million strategy (Thames Estuary 2100 project) running from 2002 through to 2010 to develop a Thames tidal flood risk management plan up to 2100.
Waste and Resources Action Programme: Marketing
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Waste and Resources Action Programme has spent on external (a) public relations and (b) public affairs, in the last 24 months; and for what purpose. [232806]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Beckenham (Mrs. Lait) on 9 October 2008, Official Report, column 745W.
Waste Disposal
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much and what percentage of total municipal waste was recycled in each of the last three years. [234682]
Jane Kennedy: The following table shows the amounts in tonnes and percentages of total municipal waste sent to be recycled or composted by English local authorities in the last three financial years
| Municipal waste sent for recycling/composting | ||
| Thousand tonnes | Percentage | |
| Source: WasteDataFlow | ||
Waste Disposal: Small Businesses
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Local Communities on measures to encourage local authorities to take on a wider role in partnerships to help small local businesses to reduce and recycle their waste. [231010]
Jane Kennedy: There have not been any meetings between the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on this topic.
The Communities and Local Government Department is represented at official level on the Government Waste Strategy Board which provides leadership for taking forward the delivery of the Waste Strategy for England 2007.
It is the role of the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) Centre for local authorities, which is funded by DEFRA, to help local authorities work with their business communities to use resources more efficiently, including to reduce and recycle waste.
The BREW Centre is delivering a central support service to help local authorities provide more tailored advice to their business community on waste and resource efficiency issues. The centre connects together over 850 local authority officers by means of an “active learning” network to help share learning in this area, and has developed over 100 good practice case studies and other guidance for local authorities. Specific business resource efficiency projects are being taken forward with selected local authorities, and the lessons learned from these are being shared widely by the centre.
Waste Management
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the volume and proportion of (a) municipal, (b) industrial and (c) total waste that was (i) sent to landfill, (ii) incinerated, (iii) domestically recycled or composted and (iv) exported in each of the last 10 years. [231666]
Jane Kennedy: The amount and proportion of municipal waste landfilled, incinerated and recycled/composted from 1996-97 to 2006-07 are shown in Table 1. It is not possible to separately identify municipal waste sent for recycling in this country from that exported for recovery.
Total waste to landfill in England from 2000-01 to 2006 is shown in table 2. Industrial waste to landfill is not separately recorded; it is included in the ‘household, industrial and commercial’ category. Around a quarter of total waste is sent to landfill.
Waste inputs received by permitted incinerators, broken down by incinerator type for 2006 and 2007 is shown in table 3. Data are collated according to the type of waste the incinerator is permitted to burn, not the source sector of the waste and therefore, industrial waste cannot be separately identified. The figures include all incineration processes that take waste from off-site sources. It does not include processes that burn their own waste. A small proportion of total waste (around 2 per cent.) is managed by permitted incinerators.
Estimates for total waste recycled or composted in England in 1998-99, 2002-03, 2004 and 2006 are shown in table 4. Around 19.0 million tonnes of industrial waste were recycled/composted in 1998-99, and 18.7 million tonnes in 2002-03. This breakdown is not available for 2004 or 2006.
Data on shipments of notifiable wastes are collected by Government agencies in the UK to comply with the Basel Convention. Therefore, comprehensive data on shipments of these wastes are currently available. However, these wastes represent a very small (1 per cent.) proportion of total waste movements, and the majority is non-notifiable, or ‘green list’ waste. While it is not a requirement for the ‘green list’ forms to be reported to the Environment Agency in England and Wales, movements of ‘green list’ waste can be estimated from HM Revenue and Customs trade database. However, these data are indicative, since in many cases the categories under which trade data are reported do not differentiate between
exported wastes and products. Estimates of non-notifiable waste movements from trade data have only been made for 2006.
Total waste exported from the UK in 2006 is estimated to have been approximately 13 million tonnes. Of this, around 4.7 million tonnes was exported to within the EU, and 8.4 million tonnes outside the EU. ‘Green list’ waste accounts for 99 per cent. of waste exports. Estimates by source sector are not available.
| Table 1: Management of municipal waste in England, 1996-97 to 2006-07 | ||||
| Thousand tonnes | ||||
| Landfill | Incinerated | Recycled/composted | Total( 1) | |
| Proportion (Percentage) | |||
| Landfill | Incinerated | Recycled/composted | |
| (1) Management methods other than landfill, incineration and recycling/composting have not been included, meaning that the totals will be slightly greater than the sum of the management routes. Source: Municipal waste management survey 1996-97 to 2003-04, WasteDataFlow from 2004-05. | |||
| Table 2: Landfill deposits in England, 2000-01 to 2006 | |||||
| Million tonnes | |||||
| 2000-01 | 2002-03 | 2004-05 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| Source: Returns made by landfill operators to the Environment Agency. | |||||
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