Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 12 of his Department's Environmental Improvement Plan 2023, what progress his Department has made on investigating the role of behavioural science in understanding how single-use coffee cups are used.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is looking further into single-use coffee cups and how to bring their use more in line with the waste hierarchy (reduce, reuse, and recycle). Further consideration of the behavioural aspect of the use of these cups will be undertaken in due course as part of this workstream.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the number of non-recyclable disposable coffee cups being disposed of in a recycling bin.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To increase the recycling of recyclable, fibre-based composite cups, the Government plans to introduce mandatory cup takeback and recycling obligations in 2025. Consumers will be able to use a dedicated cups recycling bin at any obligated premises.
Additionally, as part of the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging Regulations, we are introducing a single, UK-wide approach to packaging labelling. Producers of packaging, including coffee cups, will be required to label primary and shipment packaging as either Recycle or Do Not Recycle. This will provide consumers with clear and consistent information on what packaging they can and cannot recycle.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to increase recycling of chewing gum.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra, in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy and chewing gum producers, have established the Chewing Gum Task Force through which gum producers will take greater responsibility for the litter and staining caused by their products. Gum producers will be investing up to £10 million over five years to help tackle the issue. As part of the programme of works the Task Force will look at ways of supporting innovation and sharing latest research, which might include recycling of chewing gum.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of creating an extended producer responsibility scheme for (a) tyres, (b) mattresses, (c) white goods and (d) other items.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government committed in its Resources and Waste Strategy for England to review and consult on potential measures such as extended producer responsibility and product standards for five new waste streams (including tyres and bulky waste such as mattresses) by the end of 2025. We are considering what policy and legislative framework would be most appropriate for these and other waste streams.
We will shortly be publishing our consultation on reforming the existing producer responsibility regime for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) which includes white goods, and invite the Member to respond to those proposals at his convenience.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to incentivise (a) recycling and (b) reuse of textiles.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government’s 2018 Resources & Waste Strategy for England identified textiles as a priority sector for action. Our ambitions to minimise textile waste will be outlined in the upcoming document Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste, which constitutes a new Waste Prevention Programme for England. We expect to publish this in summer 2023.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to tackle littering from cigarette butts.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Cigarette butts continue to be the most littered item according to a survey commissioned by Defra. On our behalf, WRAP have explored options for tackling littering of cigarette butts, including making the industry financially responsible for the costs of dealing with littered butts.
The research, which will be published in due course, highlighted the need for further data. We will therefore continue to monitor the available evidence on the prevalence of littered cigarette filters before taking further action.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to increase rates of recycling of mattresses.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We are exploring options in relation to bulky furniture waste, which includes mattresses, having identified this category in the Resources and Waste Strategy.
We are looking at the best ways to reduce waste arising, increase recycling and reuse and minimise the materials ending up in landfill or incineration.
This work includes consideration of extended producer responsibility along with other non-EPR policy options.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the evidence base is for her Department's policy on electronic collars.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The draft Animal Welfare (Electronic Collars) Regulations 2023 were developed after considering a broad range of factors. This includes academic research – including Defra-commissioned research (AW1402 and AW1402a) – responses to the public consultation and direct engagement with trainers, behaviourists, e-collar manufacturers, the animal welfare sector, veterinary and dog keeping organisations.
In April, the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission also published a report giving its assessment of the available evidence and research, which concluded that use of e-collars should be banned.