Stop the excuses, start recycling plastics - Khalsa

9.50.20pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 30th Mar 2005

Satnam Kaur Khalsa, Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Feltham and Heston, with all her non-recyclable plastic waste that will go into landfill

Satnam Kaur Khalsa, Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Feltham & Heston, has today launched in Hounslow the Liberal Democrats' national commitment to dramatically increase levels of recycling to 60% within seven years. Whilst the good news is that Hounslow residents continue to recycle more waste every year, the bad news is that the overall amount of waste keeps on increasing. With Council budgets already overstretched, recycling plastics particularly is a problem that now requires renewed political will at all levels of government.

Hounslow Borough Council is rated 13th out of London boroughs for recycling. Although this rates Hounslow's recycling fairly well, relative to other councils, there is still much more to be done. Crucially plastic waste recycling must be introduced on the doorstep.

Satnam Kaur Khalsa, Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Feltham and Heston, said:

"This week I went through my black sack of non-recyclable rubbish to see what was going into landfill. This clearly showed that the vast majority of what's left after separating out recyclable rubbish is made up of plastics.

"We have known for years that there is an urgent need for a plastics recycling plant for the West London Waste area and faster development of markets for the recycled materials. Of course there are difficulties with recycling plastics; one being that different types of plastics need different treatments. But we have had enough excuses.

"We must also tackle the amount of packaging material made of plastic to reduce the growing waste mountains. It is time that the Labour government and council group stop making promises, and start taking action.

"The Liberal Democrats will tackle unnecessary waste, with a long-term goal of zero municipal waste, through waste minimisation, reuse and recycling. As a first step, we will ensure that within seven years 60% of all household waste is recycled. Manufacturers will be held responsible for disposing of their products and materials that are difficult to reuse or recycle. We will not allow new municipal waste incinerators unless they can be shown to be the best environmental option."