Asked by: Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government plans to bring forward legislative proposals to implement the EU Single Use Plastics Directive 2019/904 which came into force on 3 July 2019.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
There is a two year transposition period for the EU Single Use Plastics Directive. An assessment of the legislative work required to transpose the directive is being carried out.
Asked by: Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to penalise (a) local authorities and (b) companies found to be illegally exporting refuse and recycling abroad.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The UK Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations set out offences in relation to the shipment of waste and provide that a person found guilty of an offence can be fined and/or imprisoned for up to two years. The regulations are enforced by the UK’s competent authorities which will take appropriate action against any illegal activity.
The UK has a robust approach to enforcing these controls. The UK environmental regulators take a pro-active, intelligence led approach to checking compliance, targeting exports which pose a high risk and intervening to stop illegal exports taking place. In 2017/18, the Environment Agency issued 158 stop notices, prohibiting the export of unsuitable waste. It stopped 367 containers of waste destined for illegal export at ports and intervened further upstream to prevent 8,974 tonnes of waste from reaching our ports.
After exports are stopped, the costs associated with returning a waste shipment that is found to be unfit for export to the site of origin for further treatment can be a significant cost to the exporter. This prevents illegal exports and makes sure that the waste is recovered or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.
I have asked the Environment Agency to contact you with more information on their enforcement activities and the letter will be placed in the Library.
Asked by: Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government is reviewing the planning regulations on the installation of wood burning stove chimneys near residential properties as part of the ongoing review into domestic fuel burners.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
No. The focus is on the fuels used and guidance on how stoves should be best used.
Asked by: Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ban the marketing of single-use wipes as flushable if they do not conform to the Water UK approved fine to flush standard.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government set out in the Resources and Waste Strategy, the actions we will take to encourage producers to take more responsibility for the lifespan of their products and make sure these are more carefully designed with resource efficiency, and waste prevention in mind. This includes wet wipes.
The Government is working with the water industry and wet wipe manufacturers to prevent wet wipes entering our waterways and damaging our marine environment. I hosted a cross industry wet wipes roundtable in November 2016, to tackle the issue of wipes being incorrectly flushed and causing sewer blockages. Following the meeting, revised wet wipe industry guidance requires a ‘Do Not Flush’ label to be displayed far more prominently on non-flushable wipes.
We support the water industry’s ongoing work on their voluntary ‘Fine to Flush’ label, to ensure that any wipes which are marked as being ‘flushable’, are plastic free and are truly flushable, meaning they can enter the sewage system without causing blockages or harming the environment. We are actively encouraging the water and wet wipe industries to work together to develop an agreed ‘flushability’ standard for those wipes that are intended for disposal via toilets.
Asked by: Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps the Government has taken to encourage retailers to introduce plastic-free supermarket aisles.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government is currently working with retailers to encourage their efforts to reduce packaging waste and to explore the introduction of plastic-free supermarket initiatives in which all the food is loose, giving consumers the choice to make greener decisions.
Packaging plays a valuable role in increasing shelf-life of many food items and therefore reduces food waste. However, there are likely to be opportunities where offering food loose may help to reduce plastic waste whilst not impacting on shelf life.
The Government is also looking at further ways to reduce avoidable waste and recycle more as part of its Resources and Waste Strategy to be published later this year.