Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support her Department has given to recycling initiatives of spoil wastes from harbour dredging.

George Eustice

There are a number of good examples where support has been provided to the successful, beneficial re-use and recycling of dredged materials, including land formation at Allfleet’s Marsh on Wallasea Island, beach replenishment in Poole Bay and land claim undertaken to construct the London Gateway Port in the Thames Estuary. In addition, in 2014 the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) published research on the potential to improve the co-ordination of such projects in the future.

The UK Marine Policy Statement (2011) states that applications to dispose of wastes must demonstrate that appropriate consideration has been given to the internationally agreed hierarchy of waste management options for sea disposal, which includes recycling.