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 support councils to improve recycling rates.

The Simpler Recycling reforms will ensure that across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school.

Every household and workplace (businesses and relevant non-domestic premises like schools and hospitals) across England will be able to recycle the same materials in the following core waste streams: metal, glass, plastic (including cartons), paper and card, food waste, and garden waste (for households only).

These reforms will make recycling easier and ensure there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England. This will reduce confusion with recycling to improve recycling rates and, with the other collection and packaging reforms, will support the use of more recycled material in the products we buy, and the growth of the UK recycling industry.

By shifting the financial burden of the end-of-life costs from taxpayers to producers, Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging will secure local authority funding (approximately £1.4 billion annually in the UK and approximately £1.1 billion annually in England) for the improved management of discarded packaging materials, driving in turn improvements in the quality and quantity of recycled packaging materials, as well as investment in domestic reprocessing facilities.