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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the amount of plastic waste (a) exported to non-OECD countries by the UK in each year since 2016 and (b) that will be exported to non-OECD countries by the UK in 2021.

The UK Government has pledged to ban the export of all plastic waste to non-OECD countries and to introduce tougher controls on waste exports, including mandatory electronic waste tracking which will make it harder for criminals to obtain and export waste illegally.

Defra has commissioned research to determine the environmental, economic and social impacts of the ban on exports of plastic waste to non-OECD countries and analyse policy options around implementation of the ban. This research project will commence shortly and will examine plastic waste recycling capacity in the UK and OECD, it will also assess future UK plastic waste arisings and the impact of national, regional and international policies on UK plastic waste shipments.

The UK exports of plastic waste to non-OECD countries from 2016 onwards are illustrated in the table below:

(Source: HMRC)

Information on exports of all wastes are gathered and published by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and can be accessed here:

https://www.uktradeinfo.com/trade-data/ots-custom-table/