The Environment Bill will return to parliament tomorrow (26 January) as it reaches its report stage, which gives MPs the opportunity to consider further amendments on the floor of the House of Commons.
The environment bill will return to parliament tomorrow
The House of Commons Library has also published a briefing paper ahead of the sitting, which outlines the progress of the bill so far following its committee stage.
Potential amendments for discussions tomorrow are thought to include proposals from SNP’s David Linden to reduce the impact of nappy waste, as well as targets to cut plastic pollution from Conservative member Chris Loder.
The Environment Bill is back in parliament next week! We're asking MPs to support @DavidLinden's amendment, which calls for govt to:
Stop single-use nappies making false "eco" claims
Promote reusable nappies
Report on steps taken to reduce nappy waste#choosetoreuse
— The Nappy Alliance (@NappyAlliance) January 20, 2021
The speaker will decide which amendments will be voted on.
Following the report stage, the bill will then progress to a third reading in the Commons before proceeding to the House of Lords, where further amendments can be tabled before being given royal assent.
Committee stage
The briefing document outlines a number of government amendments that were made to the bill during the committee stage, with some relating to the establishment and functions of the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).
The Government argued that these amendments would bring “greater clarity” about the OEP’s role and consistency with other legal mechanisms.
Labour moved a number of amendments across the committee proceedings however all were rejected.
One of these included proposals looking to add targets for waste prevention and reuse into extended producer responsibility legislation, which was rejected by 9 Noes and 4 Ayes.
A further amendment tabled by the opposition looked to ensure that “social costs incurred throughout the lifecycle of products or materials” are incorporated into producer responsibility for disposal costs.
Delay
The Environment Bill was previously considered during 22 sittings between 10 March and 26 November 2020, however there was a pause in the sittings because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The bill returned to parliament after seven months of being suspended in November, where the committee met throughout the month to scrutinise the bill and proposed amendments before reporting back to parliament.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
