Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to (a) define and regulate the classification of ocean plastic and related environmental claims and (b) tackle marketing practices where products are marketed as made from ocean plastic or beach clean materials that are sourced from conventional consumer plastic waste or unrelated recycled materials.

Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), businesses are prohibited from misleading consumers and must have evidence to substantiate any claims made. Where a business markets a product as made from ocean plastic or beach clean materials, but either does so falsely, or does not have evidence to substantiate the claim, the business may be infringing the consumer protection provisions of the DMCCA and could be subject to enforcement action.

This Government is committed to transitioning towards a circular economy where resources are kept in use for longer and waste is designed out. We will soon publish a Circular Economy Growth Plan that sets out how the Government will deliver a more circular and more prosperous economy. The plan will set out the biggest opportunities in sectors right across the economy, including chemicals and plastics.