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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are being taken to increase the availability of kerbside recycling of (a) plastic film and (b) other soft plastics.

The Government wants to see a significant increase in the recycling of plastic film and flexible packaging and are delivering measures to support this.

In the 2021 consultation on Consistency in Household and Business recycling in England, we proposed local authorities be required to collect recyclable plastic films from households be no later than the end of 2026/27. We will publish our Government response to the consultation in due course.

We have also taken steps to boost the market for plastic recycling – delivering the conditions for further private sector investment. The Plastic Packaging Tax comes in from April and will see a charge of £200 per tonne on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content. This measure is already driving significant demand for plastics for recycling, which in turn supports important interim measures such as retailer-led front of store collections of plastic films.

This work, alongside other measures such as restrictions on single-use plastics, Extended Producer Responsibility and the Deposit Return Scheme, supports the delivery of our 25 Year Environment Plan target of ending all avoidable plastic waste.