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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the Government has opted not to adopt EU regulations banning the export of plastic waste to non-OECD countries; and what assessment he has made of the effect of that matter on the Government’s wider commitment not to regress on environmental standards after the UK left the EU.

Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal agreed in May 2019 to introduce tighter controls on the shipment of plastic waste following the submission of a reform proposal by the Norwegian government.

In implementing the amendments made to the Convention the European Union has prohibited the export of one category of plastic waste, consisting of highly mixed plastics, to countries that are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The UK Government's manifesto commitment to ban plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries goes further than this as it is not limited to one category of plastic waste. Defra will consult on going beyond the Basel Convention requirements, and the approach adopted by the EU, and work is underway to make this happen. The UK is not regressing on environmental standards in this area. We were a strong supporter of the changes made to the Basel Convention to make shipments of plastic waste more transparent and better regulated and we worked closely with the Norwegian government in developing the original proposals.

The UK government has implemented the amendments made to the Basel Convention. These amendments came into force in Great Britain on 1 January 2021 and will ensure that shipments of highly mixed plastic wastes can only take place if permission is obtained from the regulators in the country of dispatch and destination. Furthermore, the Government is currently engaged in contacting all non-OECD countries to enquire about the local controls that should be adhered to by British exporters when they propose to export sorted plastic waste for recycling. The results of this consultation will be implemented in our legislation shortly.