Liberal Democrats in York Outer back National Recycling Week

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sun 1st Jun 2008

A UK-wide campaign to encourage people to recycle more of their household waste has been backed by Liberal Democrats in York.

They are also calling on residents to sign a petition backing a campaign to get the Government to return York's landfill tax to use on recycling services.

National Recycling Week is being held on 2nd - 8th June. This is the fifth year it has been held. It is run by Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a national organisation set up to help people produce less waste and advise on how best to deal with rubbish in an environmentally friendly way.

Madeleine Kirk, Parliamentary Spokesperson for York Outer said, "In York the recycling and composting rate is very good at 43.3%, but we still have a long way to go before we are dealing with our waste in a way that does not leave a lasting problem for generations to come.

"Liberal Democrats in York are encouraging as many residents as possible to make small changes in their lifestyles which will make large strides to ensuring we do not wreck our environment.

"Last year in the UK, it was estimated that we spent £8 billion on food that was still fit to be used when it was thrown away. Being green can save money! But if you do produce food waste, why not get a compost bin if you have a garden?

"People should also try to buy food and other goods which have less packaging. And full use should be made of recycling facilities to dispose of waste. It is better that waste is turned back into something that is useful rather than dumped in the ground."

Madeleine Kirk and Cllr Nigel Ayre campaigned on Friday outside the Friends' Meeting House where Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, met with Hugh Bayley MP. They were asking people to sign the York Liberal Democrats' campaign to return landfill tax to York.

Hilary Benn MP recently wrote to York Council, saying that the Government would not be returning the increase in landfill tax it has received from councils up and down the country. He also said that councils cannot hope for anymore funding to improve recycling services and has denied that landfill tax has created any financial burden on councils.

Madeleine Kirk said, "Landfill tax is designed to act as an incentive to encourage recycling, and the Government had always said it would return this money to councils to help them provide recycling facilities, but has failed to honour its promise.

"York council tax payers will this year pay £2m of landfill tax which, under the Government's promise, should be returned in grants to improve recycling, and would allow York Council to more than double the money it spends of recycling collections."