Chamber and committees

Yes, we absolutely share that concern. Dealing with POPs waste is a regulatory requirement; it needs to be incinerated safely. However, I would note that sofas that have fire-retardant chemicals on them are perfectly safe to use and reuse. We need to look at how we get those items into the reuse stream and not consider them to be waste when they are still perfectly good to use. It is only when they come to the end of their life that we need to ensure that they are disposed of properly.

The deposit return scheme also covered importing goods, so the legislation had to have provisions on that. That scheme is a good example because the regulations for it stipulated the size of businesses that would be affected and gave a variety of exemptions for smaller businesses at the retail end and the producer end.

The regulations to address disposal of unsold goods are intended to deal with businesses that have the most significant environmental impact. That can be informed by consultation of the businesses that would be affected. The intention is absolutely not to impact small and medium-sized businesses, whose carbon footprint and footprint of goods are necessarily small, so including them would not be proportionate.

Absolutely, and not only for the mainstreaming aspect that you mention—to make sure that everybody participates—but to get the best value for the recyclate. I know that you have taken evidence on that. The larger the volume of good-quality, clean recyclate that we can collect, the more it will be worth and the greater the value we can get for it.

That is an interesting question. I would need to look at international examples to know what we are looking for there.

I am sorry to interrupt, Janet, but I think that you are talking about local authority targets. Mr Ruskell, are you referring to the national targets?

We will look at that in consultation. It is necessary to ensure that goods are not being produced and then sent straight to incineration or landfill. I am sure that the member can appreciate that, during a cost of living crisis, it is absolutely in our interest to ensure that perfectly usable goods—

I have not had any conversations with it. I do not know whether officials have had any.

For the national targets, we are looking at using the affirmative procedure, not the pre-laying procedure, as Ailsa Heine has pointed out.

I am keen to get the route map to you as quickly as we can. Do we have an updated timescale?

What good would look like to me is what we need to do to meet our net zero targets. We know how much waste we need to reduce not only to meet our waste target but, in the bigger picture, to help the country to reach net zero. The specific answer to your question is that good would look like what the sector needed to do on our pathway to net zero.