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26 Oct 2009 : Column 52W—continued
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which local authorities did not reduce the proportion of their waste sent to landfill in the course of 2007-08. [295846]
Dan Norris: The following table shows the authorities in England that did not reduce the proportion of their waste sent to landfill in the course of 2007-08.
These data only include unitary authorities and waste disposal authorities. Waste collection authorities' waste is disposed of by their waste disposal authority.
| Authority | Percentage of waste sent to landfill in 2006-07 | Percentage of waste sent to landfill in 2007-08 | Difference between 2006-07 and 2007-08 |
| Source: WasteDataFlow | |||
Litter: Rural Areas
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he plans to take to reduce the incidence of littering in rural areas. [294995]
Jim Fitzpatrick:
The Government's policy on tackling litter applies to all communities. There is no excuse for littering and local authorities have been given powers to deal with litterers, most recently through the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. Littering
is an offence and if convicted in a magistrates court an offender may receive a fine of up to £2,500 and a criminal record. As an alternative, local authorities have powers to issue on the spot fines of up to £80. The 2005 Act includes a power for parish councils to issue on the spot fines for littering the first time.
Through its annual grant to the charity Keep Britain Tidy, the Government campaign for behaviour change on litter. Campaigns like The Big Tidy Up and the Eco-Schools programme raise awareness of the issue, and get communities and individuals actively involved in clean-ups, in understanding the impact of littering and taking greater responsibility for their neighbourhoods.
Local Government Association
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Meriden of 15 July 2009, Official Report, column 443W, on the Local Government Association, what guidance his Department has provided on the status of the Local Government Association in respect of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. [294779]
Dan Norris: My Department has not provided any guidance on the status of the Local Government Association in respect of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs).
Guidance on which bodies may be public authorities under the EIRs is publicly available on the DEFRA website at:
Pigs
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the (a) costs and (b) benefits of maintaining the ban on raising pigs on swill. [295475]
Jim Fitzpatrick:
No formal assessment has been made. However, at the time when the ban was introduced in 2001, around 70 swill processors lost trade and around 90 swill feeders had to find alternative sources of feed.
Restaurants, kitchens and factories producing food also had to find alternative disposal routes. These bodies have subsequently adapted to the new rules and so a cost comparison between then and now would be difficult to make.
The benefits of maintaining the ban remain primarily the prevention of disease spread. As the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak demonstrated, the financial and practical consequences of one mistake in swill feeding can be enormous and potentially far outweigh the costs above. This FMD outbreak, the cause of which was thought to be the feeding of unprocessed swill to pigs, is estimated to have cost in the region of £8 billion (including indirect costs) and the potential for re-introducing the disease by livestock being illegally fed on infected meat is a constant and on-going concern. For this reason, the Government support a maintenance of the EU wide ban which is now in place.
Recycling
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he plans to introduce quotas on the minimum amount of recycled material to be used in (a) motor vehicle manufacture and (b) manufactured goods; and if he will make a statement. [295590]
Dan Norris: There are no such plans.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of waste was (a) recycled and (b) composted in 2007-08 in each local authority area. [295798]
Dan Norris: I have asked for the list of local authorities ranked by waste recycled and composted in 2007-08 to be placed in the Library of the House.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which local authorities recycled or composted a smaller proportion of their total waste in 2007-08 than in 2006-07. [295847]
Dan Norris: The following table shows the English local authorities that composted a smaller proportion of their total household waste in 2007-08 than in 2006-07.
| Household composting rate ( p ercentage) | |||
| Authority | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | Difference between 2006-07 and 2007-08 |
| Source: WasteDataFlow. | |||
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