Stop buying those throwaway clothes, shoppers are told by Lords

Shoppers must learn to 'make do and mend' rather than buy cheap throwaway clothes, a damning Lords report will say today.

Peers on the Science and Technology Committee called for a return to post-war thriftiness with an attack on 'fast fashion'.

They criticised the rising popularity of High Street clothes which are so inexpensive that there is no incentive to repair them.

In some shops, items such as jeans can be bought for less than £5. However, the committee said these cheaper clothes are often made from lower-quality fabrics which wear out more quickly and are hard to recycle.

'The attitudes of individuals and organisations must be altered so that waste is not just viewed as being costly, but as being socially unacceptable,' the report said.

'We must tackle the high rate of wasteful consumption to which our

society has become accustomed.' The committee called for a shake-up of VAT, suggesting that tax rates could be reduced on products which used sustainable materials.

The report also argued that families are being unfairly targeted by council 'bin police'.

Peers said that domestic households produce only a fraction of Britain's rubbish. 

They believe ministers should shift their focus to the 'far greater problem' of industrial and commercial waste.

The report's conclusions are a serious blow to Labour's plans to introduce pay-as-you-throw charges on household rubbish.

Ministers have angered families by introducing a raft of contentious policies to cut domestic waste, such as fortnightly rubbish collections.

And council snoopers have been given powers to hand out on-the-spot-fines to families who put their rubbish out at the wrong time or leave their wheelie bin lids open.

But the influential Lords committee said that of the 272million tonnes of waste produced in 2007, just nine per cent came from homes.

Some 32 per cent came from the demolition and construction, 30 per cent from mining and quarrying, 13 per cent from industry and 11 per cent was commercial waste, including that generated by shops and supermarkets.

Committee member Lord O'Neill said: 'It is time for the Government to move its priorities from household waste to the far greater problem of industrial and commercial waste.

'The target regime for local authorities must be changed so instead of a focus only on individuals' waste, priority is given to ensuring businesses are doing their best to reduce waste.'

He added: 'We would also like to see the VAT regime reformed so that products that have a long lifecycle or can be easily and cheaply repaired rather than replaced are made economically more attractive.'

The committee published the wide-ranging document as it was revealed ministers are pressing ahead with plans to hand over the power to raise and collect taxes on household rubbish to unelected quangos.

Collection boards called Joint Waste Authorities could take over the running of dust carts, wheelie bins and municipal tips.

These are currently administered by town halls.

Trials of pay-as-you-throw taxes, which would come under the quangos' remit, will start next year. Experts fear bills of up to £50 a year for those who fail to recycle enough of their rubbish.

Tory local government spokesman Eric Pickles said: 'This report highlights the failings of Labour to tackle the vast amount of waste produced by

businesses, and the lamentable record of this Government in helping firms increase their recycling. Labour ministers seem obsessed with hammering householders with heavy-handed bin taxes, bin fines and bin cuts  -  despite the fact domestic rubbish is a small fraction of the total amount.'

But Environment Minister Joan Ruddock dismissed claims that Labour is 'over-focused' on household waste. She said that fines for companies which produced too much landfill were designed to target businesses.

'We have invested over £650million in the last three years to help organisations and the public adopt less wasteful behaviour.'