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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to take steps to mitigate the environmental effect of the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme being scheduled for 2024.

The department is currently undertaking a public consultation on the introduction of a deposit return scheme to seek views on how a future scheme can be designed in the most coherent and effective way possible to deliver on the objectives set out for introducing such a policy. The net environmental effect of introducing the deposit return scheme will be positive and any negative environmental effects arising as a result of the scheme will be mitigated as far as possible.

The Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. We know more needs to be done, and for the most problematic plastics we are going faster - which is why we have committed to work towards all plastic packaging on the market being recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. We have made significant progress, by introducing one of the world’s toughest bans on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products and have significantly reduced the use of single-use carrier bags by the main supermarket retailers by 95% with our 5p charge. The charge has now been increased to 10p and extended to all retailers to build on its success so far and create a level playing field for all retailers. In October 2020, we introduced measures to restrict the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds.

We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/ or materials to take a systematic approach to reducing the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products, including product bans where necessary. However, we must carefully weigh up the different factors at play in considering policy interventions such as bans to avoid unintended consequences.