Plastic Pollution
(1 day, 18 hours ago)
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Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the environment in the United Kingdom of the failure to reach agreement on a Global Plastics Treaty, and what immediate steps they are taking to tackle plastic pollution in the United Kingdom.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Baroness Hayman of Ullock) (Lab)
My Lords, the UK supports an ambitious treaty to end plastic pollution, and I am very disappointed that no agreement has been reached. Plastic pollution is an urgent issue, with amounts of plastic entering the ocean set to triple by 2040 compared with 2016. The Government therefore remain committed to reaching an agreement on global action. Domestically, we have taken significant steps towards a circular economy for plastics and will publish the circular economy strategy for England this autumn.
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)
I take this opportunity to congratulate successive Governments on their efforts to reach agreement for a global plastic pollution treaty. What are this Government doing to reduce the use of plastics in the economy, mindful of the fact that the Government set up a Circular Economy Taskforce in March, one of the top five priorities of which was reducing the use of plastics? How often has the task force met and what progress has it made to reduce the use of plastics, so that we can at least control our own use in the absence of a global treaty?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
We are taking a number of steps domestically to tackle plastic pollution. First, we have banned the supply of single-use vapes which, when littered, can introduce plastic, among other substances, into the environment. We are also working with the devolved Governments to bring forward a ban across the UK on wet wipes that contain plastic. The collection of packaging reforms that we have brought in is the first step in the transition to the circular economy for all materials, including plastic. For example, the deposit return scheme includes plastic drinks containers. We have also extended producer responsibility for packaging, so that producers are incentivised to consider reducing the packaging that they use. Increasing the circularity of the plastic sector will reduce the need to produce virgin materials, which will reduce the plastic pollution associated with that. I will have to write to the noble Baroness on the number of times that the task force has met.
Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)
My Lords, beyond health deception, cigarette filters are the single most-littered item on the planet. They are an environmental disaster: they do not biodegrade but break down into microplastics, polluting our rivers and oceans. Banning them would remove the illusion of safety from filtered cigarettes, at the same time preventing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of plastic waste. If we can ban plastic straws, surely we can ban cigarette filters.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
My noble friend asks an interesting question. According to Defra’s work, we know that cigarette butts are the most-littered item. People do not tend to notice them, because they are very small, but they cause enormous damage through pollution, particularly because of the chemicals that get into water systems. I congratulate Keep Britain Tidy, which has done an enormous amount of work on this and has brought it into public perception more that you should not just chuck cigarette butts away; they can cause huge damage. We are going to monitor this further, working with organisations such as Keep Britain Tidy, but clearly the best thing is for people to give up smoking in the first place.
Baroness Parminter (LD)
My Lords, what discussions have the Government had with retailers and manufacturers about stopping the use of plastic in chocolate selection boxes for Christmas? It will not be long before they are stacked up in supermarkets again, demonstrating the mountains of unnecessary single-use plastic being used.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
We talk regularly to supermarkets and other retailers, plus organisations that actually package the goods in the first place. We need to reduce the amount of damaging packaging that goes into our environment because, as I have said before, recycling is great—we encourage it—but it is better if do not need it in the first place or if we can reduce the need for recycling. The noble Baroness is absolutely right: Christmas chocolate boxes are a good example of overpackaging, but Easter eggs are another. We need to work with the industry to reduce this packaging in the first place.
Lord Kamall (Con)
My Lords, when countries fail to reach a global agreement, often you find a coalition of the willing who will sign a plurilateral agreement and perhaps allow other countries to join later. Have the Government thought about signing a plurilateral treaty or agreement on the use of plastics, which other countries can join later?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
Our ambition at the moment is to try to get the global treaty that we have been pressing for. We believe that the more countries that we can bring into that treaty, including those that produce the plastics and the materials for them, the more likely we are to have a larger global impact. But we are considering all options, because we need to move forward in this space.
Lord Sikka (Lab)
My Lords, can the Minister explain what assessment the Government have made of the pros and cons of requiring road builders to replace some of the fossil fuel-based bitumen with plastic pellets?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
At the moment, I am not aware of Defra having had such conversations. It may be that the Department for Transport has, so I will go back to my department, ask for more information on this subject and write to the noble Lord.
Lord Roborough (Con)
My Lords, what efforts are the Government making to promote more switching to cost-effective, reusable or non-plastic, biodegradable packaging products to reduce the cost burden on industry and consumers of waste recycling and reduction?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
The UK works very much with other authorities, the devolved Administrations and other countries on how we can do exactly that. As I said, it is all very well to recycle, but we need to reduce the amount of plastic in the first place because, even when things are recycled, that plastic is still in the system. So, we will continue with our efforts to do just that.
Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)
My Lords, the failure of the negotiations was a great disappointment. Is it now the view of the Government that that is the end of the main story, that opposition is so entrenched that there is no serious prospect of progress on the main issue and that, therefore, we will have to have minor, lesser or subsidiary agreements between different parties?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
As I said, we are still working towards getting the treaty that we want. We think it will have the biggest impact, which is why we want to try to achieve that. The UK has played a leading role throughout the negotiations. We are a founding member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, and we want to continue with that high ambition. We have worked with other countries. We are supporting developing countries and are trying to bring other countries on board to gain the really big prize that we need.
Lord Hayward (Con)
My Lords, when the Minister was at the Dispatch Box answering Questions on plastics last week, the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, drew attention to the extraordinarily high levels of plastics involved in home deliveries from supermarkets. The Minister said that they met regularly with supermarkets to discuss this matter. Can she please press the supermarkets far harder? You can stand at any supermarket vegetable section and see that the vast majority of vegetables and fruit are wrapped unnecessarily in plastics. There are weighing machines at every checkout and they should be the way to restrain the use of plastics by supermarkets.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I can confirm to the noble Lord that I have had exactly those sorts of conversations with some supermarkets. There are certain items that they say they need to wrap in plastic—cucumbers, for example. I am waiting to be convinced as to the need for everything to be wrapped, but I am happy to work with and listen to supermarkets. I was very frustrated the other week when I found a swede wrapped in plastic, which I thought was completely and utterly unnecessary.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)
My Lords, as someone who campaigned on the need to reduce the use of plastics, I was devastated by the collapse of the treaty negotiations. When does the Minister think they will start again? What are the milestones for that? How can we get this international action finished? That is what is necessary, because this is a pollution problem right around the world.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness for her support and for continuing to press for this. As she said, it is the thing that will make the biggest difference. As she is aware, the session was adjourned. It was agreed that it would reconvene, but the place and time are yet to be confirmed.
Noble Lords
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, I very much welcome the Government’s approach of seeking international agreement. There seems to me no point in us pursuing something on our own and showing leadership if no one is following.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for that comment. If we are genuinely to make real progress in reducing the amount of plastic pollution, including the tiny microplastics that we are finding everywhere, we have to work globally and with countries such as Saudi Arabia that we need to bring on board if we are to make a real difference.