The government has come under fire in parliament for the potential impact on the waste and packaging industries of funding cuts to environment bodies.
Martin Horwood, Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham, said a rumoured £1bn hole in the budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs showed a "complete lack of joined-up government and contingency planning".
"Perhaps that reflects a view in government that waste recycling is an optional extra and a bit of a luxury," he told a debate in Westminster Hall on Wednesday (6 February), which was attended by only nine MPs.
He said it was alarming that the budget of the Waste and Resources Action Programme, which is charged with packaging reduction and optimisation, faced a 25% budget cut.
He also expressed concern about funding cuts to the BREW (Business Resource Efficiency and Waste) programme, which is charged with channelling extra revenue from landfill tax into projects to support business in improving its resource efficiency.
Waste minister Joan Ruddock said she was "not in a position" to reveal the outcome of funding talks, but said that "just because particular work is done at a particular time does not mean that it should continue".
She also responded to claims that retailers were not co-operating on the recycling of plastics by saying the increase in landfill tax was the "tool to persuade commerce and industry that they should divert waste from landfill".
Eric Illsley MP, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on packaging manufacturing, used the debate to highlight that packaging lightweighting could have unintended consequences, such as the need to increase the weight of transit packs.
He also pointed to the mismatch between local authorities' weight-based targets and the industry's materials-based targets, the poor quality of glass recycling, and the failure of many local authorities to collect plastics for recycling.
Martin Horwood, Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham, said a rumoured £1bn hole in the budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs showed a "complete lack of joined-up government and contingency planning".
"Perhaps that reflects a view in government that waste recycling is an optional extra and a bit of a luxury," he told a debate in Westminster Hall on Wednesday (6 February), which was attended by only nine MPs.
He said it was alarming that the budget of the Waste and Resources Action Programme, which is charged with packaging reduction and optimisation, faced a 25% budget cut.
He also expressed concern about funding cuts to the BREW (Business Resource Efficiency and Waste) programme, which is charged with channelling extra revenue from landfill tax into projects to support business in improving its resource efficiency.
Waste minister Joan Ruddock said she was "not in a position" to reveal the outcome of funding talks, but said that "just because particular work is done at a particular time does not mean that it should continue".
She also responded to claims that retailers were not co-operating on the recycling of plastics by saying the increase in landfill tax was the "tool to persuade commerce and industry that they should divert waste from landfill".
Eric Illsley MP, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on packaging manufacturing, used the debate to highlight that packaging lightweighting could have unintended consequences, such as the need to increase the weight of transit packs.
He also pointed to the mismatch between local authorities' weight-based targets and the industry's materials-based targets, the poor quality of glass recycling, and the failure of many local authorities to collect plastics for recycling.
Source: packagingnews
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