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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to remove incentives for plastic waste collectors to export rather than process waste domestically.

We are currently considering the role of exports in dealing with the UK’s plastic waste and how they can compliment domestic recycling.

Defra is committed to building a circular economy that enhances industry competition and capitalises on the UK’s potential in plastic recycling and reprocessing, whilst realising our environmental objectives. The Government’s collection and packaging reforms will help to stimulate investment in the UK reprocessing infrastructure so we can reduce our dependency on plastic waste exports.