Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will take steps to support the establishment of (a) global and (b) national targets to reduce plastic production under the potential international plastics treaty under negotiation.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
At the forthcoming round of negotiations in Canada, we will be continuing to support a treaty that will address the full lifecycle of plastic, including restraining and reducing the production and consumption of plastic to sustainable levels, addressing plastic design, and encouraging more reuse and recycling of plastic.
As negotiations are ongoing and this is the first round of negotiations where treaty text will be negotiated, we cannot prejudge what will be agreed. The UK would support an overarching global target where the particular measures to reach the target are nationally determined.
As a founding member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, a group of over 60 countries calling for an ambitious and effective treaty, we will continue to participate actively in these negotiations.