Litter

(asked on 20th July 2020) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to reduce littering in public places.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 1st September 2020

The Government published its Litter Strategy for England in April 2017, setting out our aim to deliver a substantial reduction in litter and littering within a generation. The Litter Strategy focuses on three key themes: education and awareness; improving enforcement; and better cleaning and access to bins. A copy of the Litter Strategy can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/litter-strategy-for-england.

The "Keep it, Bin it" campaign, which is run by Defra with support from Keep Britain Tidy, encourages people to dispose of their waste responsibly and calls time on rubbish excuses for littering. In addition to this national campaign, and in response to recent reports of littering as people start to enjoy outdoor spaces once more, Defra has supported, and provided funding for, Keep Britain Tidy's Love Parks campaign, which encourages people to treat our parks with respect this summer. Further information about the campaign is available at:

www.keepbritaintidy.org/news/new-campaign-launched-face-littering-epidemic-parks.

Defra has also launched a 'Respect the Outdoors' campaign this summer. This has been promoted both online and in locations near to urban parks, beaches and national parks to further highlight the impacts of littering, among other things.

It remains an offence to drop litter, and councils have legal powers to take enforcement action against offenders. Following consultation, with effect from April 2018, we increased the maximum fixed penalty for littering from £80 to £150, and from April 2019, the minimum fixed penalty was also raised from £50 to £65. We have also given councils in England (outside London) new civil penalty powers to tackle littering from vehicles. Councils can issue the keeper of a vehicle from which litter is thrown with a civil penalty of between £65 and £150.

The Government has, in its 2019 manifesto, committed to introduce a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers to secure an increase in recycling and reuse of materials, and to reduce the incidence of littering. We plan to undertake a second consultation on a DRS in early 2021.

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