I welcome this opportunity of raising the subject of the recycling of waste materials. We are beset on all sides by a shortage of materials. The world's natural resources are limited and are gradually becoming depleted. There is, however, one resource which is not only growing but growing at an alarming rate. That resource is waste material, of all descriptions. Rubbish is the world's only growing resource. In this country each year we produce 20 million tons of municipal waste, and a great deal of what we throw away could be used.

I say immediately that a great deal of waste material is already recovered. The materials reclamation industry is in its own right a substantial industry, with a turnover of more than £1,000 million a year. But a great deal more could be done.

There are three good reasons why we should reclaim and recycle waste materials. First, they provide us with materials which are in short supply. Second—