We will work with local authorities to pilot schemes encouraging householders to reduce waste, and to participate in recycling schemes. We have already begun putting measures in place to deliver the step change to more sustainable waste management. And we will do more. We need to develop new and stronger markets for recycled materials. We will set up a major new Waste and Resources Action Programme.
Public procurement can also play an important role in strengthening demand for recycled products.
We will pilot a scheme to require public procurement of certain recycled products, initially paper goods. Increasingly, producers must expect to arrange for recovery of their products. We already have mechanisms in place to encourage the reduction and re-use of packaging, and the recycling and recovery of packaging waste. We intend to introduce producer responsibility initiatives more widely, beginning with an initiative on junk mail. In his 1999 Budget Statement, the Chancellor announced that the standard rate of landfill tax would increase from 10 per tonne by 1 per year, with a review in 2004.