BRITISH RECYCLING SHOULD NOT END UP IN CHINESE LANDFILL SITES - HUHNE

2.38.26pm GMT Fri 16th Mar 2007

Following reports that more homes could have their weekly bin collections scrapped to encourage recycling, new figures compiled by the Liberal Democrats show that there has been a massive growth in the amount of recycled material being sent to China from the UK since 1997.

Over the last year alone, 1,900,000 tonnes of plastics, paper, card and metals were exported. Reports suggest that many of these materials are ending up in illegal waste dumps, despite the fact that many of them include lead, which can enter water supplies and the food chain, causing damage to animal and human health.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary Chris Huhne MP said:

"It is no good recycling more here in Britain if this simply ends up in a landfill site somewhere else.

"In the six years since Labour introduced their waste strategy, the total volume of waste generated each year has risen significantly.

"The Government should set a target of zero waste for all municipal rubbish in the UK by 2020. This would mean more doorstep collection of dry recyclables and reforming the landfill tax into a broader waste tax to remove the incentives for incineration and other less sustainable waste disposal options.

"People's goodwill will be undermined if newspapers, cans and plastic bottles they put out for recycling end up in China in waste dumps rather than being properly reused."