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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to encourage (a) ports and (b) transport companies involved in the movement of plastic (i) pellets and (ii) nurdles to sign up to the British Plastics Federation’s industry-led scheme Operation Clean Sweep to reduce the loss of plastic pellets in transit.

UK ports are an important part of the pre-production plastic pellets supply chain. As such, we have welcomed the moves by PD Teesport and the Port of Felixstowe to sign up to Operation Clean Sweep and call for other UK ports to do the same. However, we must continue to engage all stages of the supply chain, such as manufacturing, logistics and processing, if we want to tackle the scourge of plastic pellet loss effectively. Collaboration with the British Plastics Federation is key to making this happen.