ABANDONED CARS AND METAL RECYCLING PLANTS

Early day motion 1546, tabled 19 July 2004 by Sue Doughty (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 67 members.

That this House notes that from 16th July hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste must be disposed of in separate sites; is ware that after the recyclables have been removed from scrapped cars 27 per cent. of the mass remains; notes that 45,000 cars are scrapped each week; further notes that the resultant shredded materials, which are mainly rubber and plastics, are defined under the End of Life Vehicles Directive as non-hazardous, but the Landfill Directive requires materials to be tested before going to landfill; is concerned that because no suitable tests have been developed to determine whether the remaining materials are hazardous or not, metal recycling plants in England and Wales have closed for the receipt of scrap cars to avoid the risk of fines; recognises that this situation will lead to a massive increase in abandoned cars and in costs to local authorities in disposal costs of the 45,000 cars which are scrapped each week and that the supply of recovered metals to industry from this source is likely to cease; and calls upon the Government to take a lead in resolving the problem as a matter of urgency and to recognise that is failure to plan for this situation places it under an obligation to ensure that local government does not pick up the bill to deal with the expected car mountain which will result.

Signatures by party: Labour 31, Liberal Democrat 21, Conservative 5, Labour/Co-operative 4, DUP 3, Plaid Cymru 3.