Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of abolishing the Plastic Packaging Tax for food contact packaging where no safe, commercially viable recycled-content alternative is available.

Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) was introduced in April 2022 to provide a clear incentive for businesses to use recycled plastic in packaging, thereby supporting increased recycling and reducing plastic waste.

At Budget 2025, the government announced businesses will be able to use a Mass Balance Approach (MBA) for the purposes of PPT from April 2027. This will enable chemically recycled plastic to qualify for the PPT exemption, which is suitable for food-grade packaging as it produces outputs equivalent to virgin plastic. Chemical recycling can provide a recycling route for plastic waste which is otherwise difficult to recycle using established, mechanical methods, such as plastic films.

Allowing a MBA for chemically recycled plastic will help to create the conditions for the emerging chemical recycling sector to thrive in the UK.