Better late than never for London electrical waste

9.46.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 17th Apr 2007

London's Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford today said that plans for the collection and recycling of electrical and electronic waste in London are better late than never.

The Government has announced that from this July, a million tonnes of discarded televisions, computers, mobile phones, toasters and electric toothbrushes will have to be collected and recycled every year.

Electrical waste is the fastest growing type of household refuse and volumes are set to double over the next ten years. At the moment, this equipment mostly gets sent to landfill sites even though much of it contains highly toxic metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium that will eventually leach out into groundwater.

The EU's Electrical and Electronic Waste Directive requires manufacturers to take responsibility for ensuring that their products are recycled. It was due to start in 2004, but has been delayed by the Government and leaves the UK as the last EU country to comply.

The European Court of Justice has condemned the UK's failure to put the recycling laws in place and Sarah has accused the Government of dragging its heels. She said:

"Ministers say one thing when they agree new laws in Brussels but downgrade their environmental priorities when they get back to Whitehall. It's not a very convincing demonstration of the joined-up thinking we were promised from this Government."

"Electrical waste recycling laws have been operating successfully in a number of EU countries for some years. Britain does not have to reinvent the wheel it just has to copy best environmental practice."