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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to help tackle plastic pollution in national parks.

Natural England has recently updated the Countryside Code which makes clear visitors’ responsibilities in protecting the environment when accessing the outdoors, including the need to take rubbish and food waste home, using public bins or recycling if possible.

We also launched the “Keep it, Bin it” anti-litter campaign in 2018 with Keep Britain Tidy to encourage people to dispose of their litter responsibly. Last year, Keep Britain Tidy made the campaign available to local authorities and other land managers for local use.

Thanks to our single-use carrier bag charge, the number of single-use plastic carrier bags sold by the main retailers has fallen by over 97%. According to Keep Britain Tidy, in 2014/15, plastic bags were noted as a top 20 most common type of litter found in England. In 2020, plastic bags were no longer a top 20 item across the UK.

We have also consulted on introducing a deposit return scheme for drinks containers. We estimate that the scheme can reduce drinks containers being littered by 85%. Further details on when a Deposit Return Scheme will be introduced will be set out in the Government response to last year's consultation. We are working towards publication in late 2022.