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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in the context of the delay to mandatory kerbside collection of flexible plastics under Simpler Recycling, what support her Department plans to provide to (a) recycling companies that have already invested in UK-based reprocessing infrastructure and (b) the wider plastic industry.

We will work with industry through the Plastic Film Forum launching this November, with a working group specifically looking at reprocessing.  We will continue to promote the continuation of existing voluntary collection routes — including council collections, business collections and front-of-store take-back at major supermarkets, which could provide feedstock to infrastructure.