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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to (a) ban the sale of unrecyclable wrapping paper or (b) introduce a tax on such products.

We have no plans to ban “non-recyclable” wrapping paper. Retailers are encouraged to provide information on whether their wrapping paper can be recycled or whether it should be disposed of in residual waste.

Packaging materials, including wrapping paper sold with the product, are covered by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations which place a legal obligation on businesses that make or use packaging to ensure that a proportion of the packaging they sell is recovered and recycled.

This creates an incentive for companies to use less packaging and to ensure that their packaging can be recycled at end of life as it will reduce their costs in complying with the Regulations.

We have committed to exploring changes to the packaging producer responsibility scheme. This will look at all aspects of the regime, including mechanisms to encourage increased recyclability. More detail will be announced in the Resources and Waste Strategy, which will be published shortly.