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• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

I think they should be made to put up or shut up. If they are going to be in the Green Procurement Code and get all that endorsement --

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

John - both you and Nicky, as the Mayor's Waste Advisor, have told us at the Environment Committee, that the use of wheeled bins by boroughs actually reduces the amount of recycling. Now, from the borough's point of view, wheeled bins are useful because it reduces their cost of collection, and from the householder's point of view, they're convenient. So, are you actually planning, as a part of your approach to waste, to be reducing wheeled bins in London, or are you going to accept them as a reality?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

You say you would hesitate if a new wheeled bin scheme was proposed. What form of activity would that hesitation take?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

I don't doubt the ability of the low performing boroughs to spend money. Indeed, that's a characteristic of many of them. My question was actually about determining whether they're giving value for that money, and how we ensure that by investing in those boroughs that have never shown any interest or any priority for recycling measures, we are actually going to ensure that they spend that money effective and achieve the results we all want them to achieve.

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

Therefore, if they do not achieve previously agreed targets, they will not get the later tranches of the money that's been announced in the first two or three stages.

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

Can I just finally, Chair, come back to what the high performing boroughs can do in terms of encouraging and supporting the low performing boroughs. For instance, something like the beacon council issues. Have you considered, and are there measures to encourage the high performing boroughs to work with those low performing boroughs to show them how they, too, can become high performing boroughs?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

Can I ask, did the London borough of Sutton put in a bid for any of this money?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

It's all very well talking about recycling. That's obviously one part of it, but clearly buying recycled goods is the key thing. And the Green Procurement Code is something that I think we would all welcome. That was launched in March. Can I ask how many boroughs and how many companies have currently signed up to that?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

Well, either you think that wheeled bins are a bad thing and you're going to do something about it, or you're going to use them in a positive way, to help to improve people's recycling rates. I can think of several ways that you might actually modify a bin scheme to do that.

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

Can you envisage yourself turning down a contract because of the size of wheeled bins?