The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has confirmed that Lord de Mauley is to be replaced as waste and resources minister by the Liberal Democrat MP Dan Rogerson, many users of IT recyclers Collect and Recycle (http://www.collectandrecycle.com) may be interested to read.
The North Cornwall MP’s assumption of the waste brief follows the recent cabinet reshuffle, with Lord de Mauley’s focus at Defra now being biodiversity and the natural environment. Mr Rogerson is far from a newcomer to the waste recycling sector, having been involved in the Associate Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group. He has also been a frequent commentator on energy from waste in Cornwall, opposing proposals to build a recovery plant in the county.
Meanwhile, Lord de Mauley still had time before his departure from the waste ministerial post to write to local authorities, reminding them that commingled collections will not be permissible on the coming into force of the amended waste regulations in 2015.
In the letter addressing the effect of the Waste (England and Wales) (Amendments) Regulations 2012, the minister told councils that there were no circumstances in which the commingled collections of dry recyclables would be permissible, urging them to take reasonable steps to keep waste streams separate from each other, to ensure a high quality recyclables.
The outgoing minister acknowledged in the letter that waste collections and disposal arrangements were being examined by many local authorities, and that good work had been undertaken to heighten the amount of collected material. However, he said that there still needed to be an improvement in quality, adding that on every front, efforts were needed to drive up recycling quality and quantity at the same time as restricting costs.
Lord de Mauley – a hereditary peer born Rupert Charles Ponsonby – had held the waste brief since September 2012, and in common with the man he replaced, Lord Taylor, only held the position for slightly over 12 months. His other acts as waste minister included giving his backing to plans for plastic bags in England to be subject to a 5p levy from autumn 2015.
Mr Rogerson and Lord de Mauley are accompanied at Defra by George Eustice, the Conservative MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle who joined the department as parliamentary under-secretary of state last week, and Owen Paterson, Conservative MP for North Shropshire.
Returning to the backbenches as part of the reshuffle was Defra minister Richard Benyon, who had acted as spokesman on several issues of relevance to the waste services sector, including the single-use carrier bag levy and refuse derived fuel.
As a leader in UK recycling, Collect and Recycle (http://www.collectandrecycle.com) will keep its clients up to date with the latest movements of the new waste and resources minister and all other developments coming out of Defra, while continuing to provide highly efficient, cost-effective and legally compliant business waste services.
