Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
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 Policy Connects report entitled Plastic Packaging Plan: achieving zero 'waste' exports, published January 2019, that highlighted UK exports of plastic packaging overseas stood at 4.15 million tonnes between 2010-2017, what steps her Department are taking to ensure the UK is a net-zero exporter of plastic packaging by 2030.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We have made no formal assessment of becoming a “net-zero exporter of plastic packaging”.
The Resources and Waste strategy sets out Governments aim to significantly increase UKs reprocessing capacity, including for plastics. This will be achieved by providing a large and stable supply of recyclable waste materials, increasing the quality of the waste materials to be recycled, improving demand for recycled materials and levelling the playing field for UK reprocessors through minimising illegal waste exports.
Government has recently consulted on wide ranging reforms to support these aims through greater consistency in household and business recycling, reform of packaging producer responsibility, and the introduction of a deposit return scheme for drinks containers.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the merits of the UK becoming a net-zero exporter of plastic packaging by 2030.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We have made no formal assessment of becoming a “net-zero exporter of plastic packaging”.
The Resources and Waste strategy sets out Governments aim to significantly increase UKs reprocessing capacity, including for plastics. This will be achieved by providing a large and stable supply of recyclable waste materials, increasing the quality of the waste materials to be recycled, improving demand for recycled materials and levelling the playing field for UK reprocessors through minimising illegal waste exports.
Government has recently consulted on wide ranging reforms to support these aims through greater consistency in household and business recycling, reform of packaging producer responsibility, and the introduction of a deposit return scheme for drinks containers.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
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 ensure the UK meets targets as set out under the European Union Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and Circular Economy Package to (a) recycle 70% of packaging waste by 2030 and (b) recycle 65 per cent of municipal waste by 2035.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government has recently consulted on a package of measures to overhaul the waste and recycling system. This included reforms to the packaging producer responsibility system to incentivise producers to use easier to recycle packaging and ensure the UK achieves a 70% recycling rate for packaging waste by 2030.
This consultation also proposed a system of modulated fees to incentivise design for recyclability to ensure that the majority of packaging can be easily recycled.
In addition, we have consulted on measures to achieve greater consistency in recycling provision across England. Following support at consultation, we will legislate so that all local authorities in England collect the same core set of dry, recyclable materials and provide a weekly, separate food waste collection service to households, from 2023. We will also legislate so that businesses and other organisations separate dry recyclable materials and food waste from residual waste streams to be recycled also from 2023.
These measures, together with packaging reforms, will contribute towards achieving an overall 65% recycling rate of municipal waste by 2035.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
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 ensure that 80 per cent of packaging produced can be recycled.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government has recently consulted on a package of measures to overhaul the waste and recycling system. This included reforms to the packaging producer responsibility system to incentivise producers to use easier to recycle packaging and ensure the UK achieves a 70% recycling rate for packaging waste by 2030.
This consultation also proposed a system of modulated fees to incentivise design for recyclability to ensure that the majority of packaging can be easily recycled.
In addition, we have consulted on measures to achieve greater consistency in recycling provision across England. Following support at consultation, we will legislate so that all local authorities in England collect the same core set of dry, recyclable materials and provide a weekly, separate food waste collection service to households, from 2023. We will also legislate so that businesses and other organisations separate dry recyclable materials and food waste from residual waste streams to be recycled also from 2023.
These measures, together with packaging reforms, will contribute towards achieving an overall 65% recycling rate of municipal waste by 2035.