Springvale candidate, Sandra Terry, meets Shadow Environment Secretary

8.00.00am GMT Tue 28th Mar 2006

"Too much waste, not enough recycling" Chris Huhne tells Sandra Terry

Sandra Terry met the Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne MP and told him about the Rubbish Action Zones that she and the Springvale Focus Team have carried out over the last few months. This cleared out a lot of household rubbish yet, despite her efforts, very little went for recycling. Sandra said, " Our Rubbish Action Zones show just how wasteful we all are. I was hoping that in the recent Budget the Chancellor would come forward with proposals for fiscal incentives first to see packaging and goods redesigned in ways that make them easier to reuse and recycle; and secondly to offer the financial incentives to reuse and recycle materials."

Mr Huhne told Sandra that the latest survey of municipal waste in 2004/5 shows that overall waste levels have continued to rise - up to 29.7 million tonnes in England, a 22% increase since Labour came to power (1996/97). It is five years since Labour introduced their Waste Strategy. There has been some welcome progress, yet the total volume of waste generated each year has risen significantly. "

The Liberal Democrats believe that the Government should set a target of Zero Waste for all municipal rubbish in the UK by 2020. This will 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. Meeting these targets will also mean reducing the total amount of waste we produce in the first place, focusing on reduction and redesign.