County council should get "out of the stone age" and let district councils increase recycling - Baker

2.49.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 3rd Jul 2009

Lewes MP Norman Baker spoke on the floor of the Commons yesterday in a bid to change existing policy, so that East Sussex County Council allow district councils to recycle more.

Currently, county councils pay recycling credits to district councils in exchange for collecting waste materials for recycling. However, East Sussex County Council will only provide credits for 27% of the total amount of waste in the Lewes district. This means that it is too expensive for Lewes District Council to recycle any more than 27% of overall waste.

The Tory-run County Council has refused to increase the number of recycling credits available as it is tied to the expensive and unpopular incinerator in Newhaven to get rid of waste.

During departmental oral questions yesterday, Lib Dem Mr Baker, a long-standing campaigner on environmental issues, pointed out to Environment Secretary Hilary Benn that East Sussex County Council will not allow recycling credits to go above 27%.

The current cap is imposed even though the limit of 27% was reached by Lewes District Council some time ago. Several local authorities, including Lewes District Council, believe they could increase recycling to more than 50% on current levels if more recycling credits were provided.

Norman Baker told the Commons:

"The Government rightly promote recycling, but is the Minister aware that Lewes District Council's recycling levels have effectively been capped at 27 per cent by East Sussex County Council, which will not provide further recycling credits because it wants a waste stream to feed its incinerator?

"Is it not about time that East Sussex County Council was pulled out of the stone age and that councils that want to recycle more, such as Lewes Council, which believes it can increase recycling by 50 per cent., were allowed to get on with it?"

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn responded to Mr Baker by stating that he would be happy to look at the issue if Mr Baker explained the problem in writing.

Norman Baker commented afterwards:

"I am pleased that the Minister has agreed to look at this issue. It is simply preposterous that East Sussex County Council refuses to provide more recycling credits when there is a great deal of demand for it. I intend to write to the Minister as soon as possible, and I hope that the government will intervene to end these ridiculous caps."

The full text of Norman Baker's exchange with Hilary Benn can be reached at: http://snurl.com/lrzi2