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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) volume and (b) composition of plastic waste in UK territorial waters.

Marine plastic litter can move with ocean currents, which makes it difficult to calculate how much is situated in UK territorial waters at any given point in time.

Seafloor litter data is collected for the North Sea, English Channel, Celtic Sea and Irish Sea and this area includes, but is not limited to, UK territorial waters. Over 25 years (1992-2017) on average 324 litter items were recorded per km² of seafloor. Between 2016 and 2018 more than 81% of the litter items recorded were plastic. Common items recorded were bags, plastic sheets and fishing debris.

We collaborate closely with neighbouring countries through the OSPAR Convention to reduce the flow of waste into the North-east Atlantic. We are delivering on our commitments in the OSPAR Marine Litter Regional Action Plan, which contains 55 collective and national actions to address both land- and sea-based sources of marine litter.

The Resources and Waste Strategy for England, published in December 2018, sets out our plans to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste, working towards our 25 Year Environment Plan target to reduce all types of marine plastic pollution.