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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the UK meets targets as set out under the European Union Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and Circular Economy Package to (a) recycle 70% of packaging waste by 2030 and (b) recycle 65 per cent of municipal waste by 2035.

The Government has recently consulted on a package of measures to overhaul the waste and recycling system. This included reforms to the packaging producer responsibility system to incentivise producers to use easier to recycle packaging and ensure the UK achieves a 70% recycling rate for packaging waste by 2030.

This consultation also proposed a system of modulated fees to incentivise design for recyclability to ensure that the majority of packaging can be easily recycled.

In addition, we have consulted on measures to achieve greater consistency in recycling provision across England. Following support at consultation, we will legislate so that all local authorities in England collect the same core set of dry, recyclable materials and provide a weekly, separate food waste collection service to households, from 2023. We will also legislate so that businesses and other organisations separate dry recyclable materials and food waste from residual waste streams to be recycled also from 2023.

These measures, together with packaging reforms, will contribute towards achieving an overall 65% recycling rate of municipal waste by 2035.