Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to monitor and tackle the environmental impact of single-use packaging waste on terrestrial trail ecosystems, including public rights of way.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils are responsible for keeping their public land clear of litter and refuse.
We are targeting some of the more commonly littered items to reduce the presence of these in our communities. The sale of single-use vapes was banned from 1 June 2025 and a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers will go live in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland in October 2027. The Deposit Return Scheme will cover plastic and metal drinks containers (like bottles and cans which make up 55% of litter volume), and the goal is to reduce litter and help keep our streets, rivers, and oceans clean.
We have a number of restrictions on other unnecessary single use plastic products and we will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/or materials to take a systematic approach, in line with circular economy principles, to reduce the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products and encourage reuse solutions. These measures help reduce litter at the source and reduce pollution on terrestrial trail ecosystems.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with car manufacturers on reducing the risk of stolen catalytic converters through design and technology.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are working with the police and the automotive industry, to ensure the strongest response possible to all types of vehicle crime.
The Home Office meets regularly with the National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership and with industry to discuss how government can help tackle the serious problem of vehicle crime. We also support the police-led National Vehicle Crime Working Group which focusses on prevention and deterrence of theft of, and from, vehicles. This includes training police officers on the methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles, and working with industry to address vulnerabilities in vehicles including the theft of catalytic converters.
Additionally in the Crime and Policing Bill we are banning the electronic devices used to steal vehicles, providing a valuable tool to prevent the theft of vehicles.
The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 was introduced to reverse an upward trend in the level of metal theft through better regulation of the metal recycling sector, making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal including catalytic converters.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle littering in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils are responsible for tackling litter in their area. The role of central Government is to enable and support local action. In the Pride in Place Strategy this Government has committed to bringing forward statutory enforcement guidance on both littering and fly-tipping, modernising the code of practice that outlines the cleaning standards expected of local authorities, and refreshing best practice guidance on the powers available to local authorities to force land and building owners to clean up their premises.
We are also targeting some of the more commonly littered items to reduce the presence of these on our streets. The sale of single-use vapes was banned from 1 June 2025 and a Deposit Return Scheme will go live in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland in October 2027. Plastic drinks bottles and metal drinks containers make up 55% of litter volume. The Deposit Return Scheme will cover plastic and metal drinks containers (like bottles and cans), and the goal is to reduce litter and help keep our streets, rivers, and oceans clean.
Asked by: Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to ensure parity of treatment between metal recyclers and steel producers in relation to energy pricing and the proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has recently published a consultation on eligibility for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme which, from 2027, will lower electricity prices for businesses in manufacturing frontier industries and foundational industries in their supply chains. Support is also available through the British Industry Supercharger and the Energy Intensive Industries Compensation Scheme.
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will ensure that highly traded, carbon-intensive imported goods face a comparable carbon price to UK-produced equivalents. Imported scrap products, including those from aluminium, iron and steel, will remain outside CBAM scope due to their low carbon leakage risk.
Asked by: Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to maintain the domestic metal-recycling base to secure the feedstock required for a decarbonised steel industry, and to reduce reliance on imported virgin materials.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises the importance of a circular economy and the need for domestic supply of scrap to meet demand, whilst also ensuring the market remains fair and beneficial for all stakeholders. We are actively listening to the perspectives of all involved parties.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the lack of sorting requirements of collected materials under Simpler Recycling on recycling rates.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of the Simpler Recycling reforms, the Government has made an exemption in regulations to allow local authorities and other waste collectors to co-collect plastic, metal and glass in the same container. This applies in all circumstances without the need to produce a written assessment, based on the evidence that co-collection does not significantly affect the potential for those materials to be recycled.
The decision to allow dry materials to be co-collected has been taken based on evidence to indicate that simplifying the number of bins can help increase participation in recycling. Evidence also suggests that fully co-collecting systems (with one mixed dry recycling bin) have the highest levels of contamination (for example, broken glass stuck on paper or soggy paper from the liquid from bottles and cans), and that paper and card are particularly vulnerable to cross-contamination, which will affect the recycling rate. By default, therefore, paper and card should be separately collected from all other dry materials so their potential to be recycled is not reduced.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to promote domestic recycling.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Simpler Recycling reforms will ensure that across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school. Every household and workplace (businesses and relevant non-domestic premises like schools and hospitals) across England will be able to recycle the same materials in the following core waste streams: metal, glass, plastic (including cartons), paper and card, food waste, and garden waste (for households only). These reforms begun from workplaces on 31 March 2025 (except for micro-firms with less than 10 FTE), will begin from households by 31 March 2026 and micro-firms by 31 March 2027.
These reforms will make recycling easier and ensure there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England. This will reduce confusion with recycling to improve recycling rates.
This will support our ambition to recycle 65% of municipal (household-like) waste by 2035, reducing emissions from landfill and waste incineration, decreasing reliance on virgin materials, and supporting the growth of the UK recycling industry.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to promote domestic recycling.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Simpler Recycling reforms will ensure that across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school.
Every household and workplace (businesses and relevant non-domestic premises like schools and hospitals) across England will be able to recycle the same materials in the following core waste streams: metal, glass, plastic (including cartons), paper and card, food waste, and garden waste (for households only).
These reforms will make recycling easier and ensure there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England. This will reduce confusion with recycling to improve recycling rates, ensuring there is more recycled material in the products we buy, and that the UK recycling industry will grow.
By 31 March 2026, local authorities will be required to collect the core recyclable waste streams from all households in England. This includes introducing weekly food waste collections for all homes, unless a transitional arrangement applies (a transitional arrangement is where a local authority has agreed a later implementation date set in regulations).
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has considered the potential merits of legislating to ensure that the (a) historic and (b) cultural value of heritage metal is considered in prosecutions for metal theft.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government recognises the distress and disruption that heritage theft can cause to local communities.
That is why the sentencing guidelines on theft were amended in 2016 to highlight that where theft is of heritage assets or causes disruption to infrastructure, this should be taken into account when assessing the level of harm caused.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making training on the theft of heritage metal a mandatory requirement for acquiring a scrap metal dealer licence.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government recognises the distress and disruption that heritage theft can cause to local communities.
The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 was introduced to reduce metal theft by strengthening regulation of the scrap metal industry. The Act requires scrap metal dealers to obtain a licence from their local authority and to verify the identity of those selling the scrap metal.
We do not currently plan to introduce a mandatory requirement for training. However, our supplementary guidance makes clear that scrap metal dealers must understand the legal obligations of holding a scrap metal dealer’s licence, and may wish to undertake training to ensure they understand the requirements they must comply with under the Act. The licensing authority may take training into account when considering whether an applicant is a suitable person to hold a licence.
More broadly, we have supported the work of Historic England which leads on a number of initiatives to tackle heritage crime, particularly theft of metal from church roofs and other buildings primarily in rural locations. Historic England also works with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership to provide training to scrap metal dealers on how to identify heritage metal which may have potentially been stolen, and provides guidance to assist in the identification of specialist metals.