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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what further steps the Government is taking to reduce the use of single-use plastics; and what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of levies to further reduce the use of plastics.

Last year the Government published the Resources and Waste Strategy, setting out our plans to reduce, reuse and recycle more plastic than we do now. Our target is to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste throughout the life of the 25 Year Environment Plan, but for the most problematic plastics we are going faster - that is why we commit to work towards all plastic packaging placed on the UK market being recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

We have made good progress, the Government’s plastic bag charge has led to a 90% reduction in the use of plastic carrier bags in the main retailers and raised in last year alone over £51 million for environmental causes. The Government also recently consulted on plans to extend the charge to all retailers and on increasing the minimum charge to at least 10p.

We have recently consulted on a suite of measures to help overhaul the waste system. Collectively our proposals are aimed at boosting recycled content in plastic packaging, through a proposed tax on plastic packaging which does not meet a minimum threshold of at least 30% recycled content. This will make producers foot the bill for handling the packaging they place on the market when it becomes waste, and ending the confusion over household recycling by introducing more consistency in collection services. In addition, earlier this year the Government announced that a ban on the supply of plastic straws, stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds to the end user will come into force from April 2020.

Industry is also taking action, in April last year, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation launched their world-leading UK Plastics Pact, with support from the Government, accounting for over 85% of plastic packaging used in UK supermarkets. The Pact brings organisations from across the supply chain together, from plastic manufacturers through to waste management companies, with four key targets for 2025 that aim to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated, including one to take actions to eliminate problematic or unnecessary single-use packaging items.