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Authorities must 'get a grip' on recycling
Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh has said that the waste disposal authorities need to do more to encourage people to recycle plastics.
Speaking to ePolitix.com ahead of a Westminster Hall debate on the subject, Pugh said ministers needed to encourage the authorities "to provide the support and infrastructure to enable plastic recycling to be as profitable as other forms of recycling".
The Southport MP and Lib Dem Treasury spokesman said that the issue was "very much in the air at the moment", but warned that there was not "a great deal of clear thought around".
While he said that most householders would like to recycle plastics, he claimed this was not always economical for the consumer or the local authority.
Pugh said the government needed to "take a strategic look at where we're going on this", and follow the example of local authorities like Hampshire which crush and separate plastics.
On the use of carrier bags, Pugh said there were "lots of occasions where one-use plastic bag is almost encouraged by the retail trade".
"There's got to be a disincentive for them to do that," he argued. "Whether a tax is the right idea, well I'm not sure about that, but we certainly need to exert a downward pressure."
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