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Peers have called on the Government to reconsider VAT legislation to help encourage waste reduction.
A report by the House of Lords Science Committee recommends that the VAT regime is reviewed with the possibility of introducing variable rates.
Products that use sustainable materials and fewer virgin-raw resources would be charged at a lower rate, making them a more economically attractive proposition.
The paper — entitled Waste Management - goes on to suggest that VAT rates for servicing and repairing existing products are looked at, and possibly reduced.
The peers' recommendations follow last month's Mirrlees Review document, which endorsed the abolition of zero and reduced rates of VAT.
Such a move, it claimed, would cut compliance and administration costs for business and government, interfere less with people's spending decisions and raise £11 billion.
