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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle litter.

Our Litter Strategy for England sets out our aim to deliver a substantial reduction in litter and littering within a generation. The strategy contains a number of commitments, many of which have been completed or are nearing completion. Progress reports on delivering the Litter Strategy can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/litter-strategy-for-england-progress-reports.

The Prime Minister’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan set out how we will support council’s to take tougher action against those that litter. For example, last July we significantly raised the upper limit on fixed penalty notices from £150 to £500.

The Chewing Gum Task Force, established by Defra and funded by producers, has provided almost £2.5 million in grants since 2022 to help nearly 100 councils remove gum stains from high streets and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent gum being dropped in the first place. The Task Force has just launched another grant scheme for councils this year. Further information can be be found at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/local-authorities/reduce-litter/gum-litter/chewing-gum-task-force.

National Highways has developed a new campaign that aims to educate and change road users’ behaviour towards littering. The campaign will run from 12 February to 10 March and road users will be implored to stop littering as its deadly impact on wildlife is revealed.

In January this year, we announced our plans to ban disposable vapes in the UK. This will help to tackle a huge and growing stream of hard-to-recycle waste and litter, with nearly 5 million thrown away every week.