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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of wastewater treatment plants in removing microplastics from waste water.

A recent UK water industry project investigated the quantities and types of microplastics entering a range of wastewater treatment works. The Department reviewed the findings from the work and agrees with the conclusion that conventional wastewater treatment is effective in removing microplastics from wastewater. The evidenced showed treatment processes can take out an average of 99% of microplastics (by-number of microplastics) and 99.5% by-mass from wastewater arriving at the works.