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 reduce the use of non-biodegradable wet wipes.

The Government is working with the water and manufacturing industries to prevent wet wipes entering our waterways and damaging our marine environment. I hosted a cross industry wet wipes roundtable in December 2016 to tackle them being incorrectly flushed and causing sewer blockages. Following the meeting, EDANA (the trade body for wet wipe products) produced a new labelling code of practice. This code has been widely adopted. Key changes include all baby wipes being labelled ‘do not flush’ and improvements to the size and legibility of the ‘do not flush’ symbol, which must now be displayed on the front as well as the back of packaging. Water UK and EDANA are also working together to develop an agreed ‘flushability’ standard for those wipes that are intended for disposal via toilets.

We also want to tackle the amount of plastic in circulation in the first place, which is why we are encouraging innovation so that more and more of these products can be recycled. We will continue to work with industry to support the development of alternatives, such as a wet wipe product that does not contain plastic.

While biodegradable materials may be seen as a solution to reduce the impact of waste, they can also be more environmentally damaging than non-biodegradable materials if disposed of incorrectly. Plastics which claim to be biodegradable should carry a relevant standard such as EN 13432 which will only biodegrade in very specific conditions.