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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to ban the use of single-use plastic packaging in the next five years.

The Government published its Resources and Waste Strategy in December last year which sets out our plans to reduce plastic pollution.

Domestically we have made good progress, from banning microbeads in rinse-off personal care products and removing 15.6 billion plastic bags from circulation with our 5p charge to strengthening the protection of our marine areas. We are currently consulting on extending and increasing the carrier bag charge.

We are also consulting on reforming existing packaging waste regulations, introducing a deposit return scheme for drinks containers, and increasing consistency in the recycling system. Legislative proposals will be developed taking account of the consultation responses.

Our ambition is to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste - not just single use plastics - throughout the lifetime of the 25 Year Environment Plan. However, for the most problematic plastics we are going faster, which is why we commit to work towards all plastic packaging placed on the UK market being recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

In general, we prefer to help people and companies make the right choice, rather than banning items outright. There may, however, be times when a ban is appropriate as part of a wider strategic approach. We have concluded a consultation on banning the distribution and/or sale of plastic straws, drink stirrers, and plastic stemmed cotton buds and will shortly be publishing a summary of responses. We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/or materials to take a systematic approach to reducing the use of unnecessary single use plastic products, including problematic packaging materials.