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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the use of plastic by businesses in the tourism industry.

Through the Government’s Resources and Waste Strategy for England, published in December last year, sets out our plans to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste from all sectors, including the tourism industry.

We have already made good progress, banning microbeads, removing 15.6 billion plastic bags from circulation with our 5p charge, and committing to restrict the sale and/or distribution of plastic straws, drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds from April 2020.

Furthermore, the 25 Year Environment Plan announced that water companies have been working to create a network of free water refill points across England. Defra is working with Water UK on this roll-out, which is managed by City to Sea. This Thursday 1 August, locations for the first 50 public drinking water foundations for London were announced, part of a £5 million scheme. In September last year, water companies in England published their plans for reducing single-use plastic bottles in their regions. Ministers have written to many retailers, coffee shops and transport hubs asking them to provide tap water, allowing the public to refill bottles. We are also working across Government, for example with the Department for Transport, to encourage transport premises to extend the provision of free water and to publicise this.