Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made in delivering the Collections and Packaging Reforms programme.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has passed or is on track to pass all the necessary legislation to deliver the Collection and Packaging Reforms Programme, and making strong progress on achieving our target of 65% recycling by 2035 in England, after a decade of stagnating recycling rates.
For Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR), The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations came into effect on 1 January 2025 and on Friday 27 June 2025, PackUK confirmed 2025 base fees (fees for Year 1 of pEPR) for eight packaging material categories. Packaging producers liable under the regulations have been invoiced this month.
In January 2025, the legislation for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers in England and Northern Ireland came into force. A new organisation called UK Deposit Management Organisation Ltd (UK DMO) will run the scheme, and were officially appointed in May 2025 (England & NI) and June 2025 (Scotland). UK DMO will engage regularly with shops, drinks companies, environmental groups, and the public to help design and run the scheme.
Simpler Recycling has now come into effect for all workplaces with 10 or more full-time equivalent employees in England. This requires workplaces to separately recycle dry mixed recycling (plastic, metal, glass), paper and card, and food waste. 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). Micro-firms (workplaces with fewer than 10 employees), have until 31 March 2027 to comply, and plastic film collections from all households and workplaces will also be required by then.
Finally, to help tackle the problem of illegal waste practices and outdated record-keeping, we are introducing mandatory digital waste tracking, which will become available for all permitted and licensed sites receiving waste in April 2026 and mandatory for permitted and licensed waste receiving sites from October 2026 in the first phase.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that supermarkets are required to use packaging that is recyclable through household recycling systems; and whether she has considered taking legislative steps to promote the use of such packaging.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is taking several steps to incentivise the use of use or recyclable packaging by supermarkets and other producers.
Under the UK wide Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) scheme, which came into effect on 1 January 2025, producers are incentivised to reduce their material footprint and use easier to recycle packaging by being required to bear the end-of-life costs associated with packaging that they place on the market. The Scheme Administrator, PackUK, can modulate (increase or decrease) the household packaging waste disposal fees for each category of packaging a producer supplies. This will reflect the environmental sustainability of the packaging and provide an incentive to the producer to use more environmentally sustainable packaging.
Additionally, under Simpler Recycling, every household and workplace (such as businesses, schools, and hospitals) across England will be able to recycle the same materials in the following core groups: metal; glass; plastic: paper and card; food waste; garden waste (household only). This includes cartons (as part of the plastics recyclable waste stream). More consistent collections will help reduce contamination, improve material quality and boost recycling rates.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce disparities in accepted materials for recycling across different local authorities.
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.
Simpler Recycling will be implemented as follows:
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2025 to Question 58669 on Cabinet Office: Lanyards, what was the (a) artwork and (b) branding on the 6,376 lanyards purchased for £5,069.99.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As was the case under the previous administration, the Cabinet Office issues standard Cabinet Office branded lanyards to staff as a default.
On 6 April, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced a ban on unnecessary branded merchandise. Whilst it was agreed that some expenditure on merchandise items is necessary for operational purposes (for example, security lanyards), all of these orders were made prior to this government’s ban on unnecessary branded merchandise.
The (a) artwork and (b) branding for the 6,376 lanyards purchased prior to this ban, stated in Question 58669, is as follows:
‘reflex blue plain stock’ lanyards
blue lanyards with the Cabinet Office crest and the words "College for National Security" printed on them.
plain purple lanyards, with the Cabinet Office crest and "FS Conference 2024 Committee" printed on them
lanyards featuring a blue style with white print displaying "Crown Commercial Service" and the Crown logo, with metal hooks for attaching passes
“Phase 2 Grenfell Tower Inquiry” with lanyards with Team Member printed in black and 2 colour logo to face
“Government Project Delivery” lanyards printed in full colour to both sides
“Cabinet Office Digital” lanyards printed in full colour to both sides
"100 Year Partnership between Ukraine and the UK" lanyards printed with four colour logo
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to improve the quality and consistency of sorted scrap metal to meet future demand for electric arc furnace steelmaking in the UK.
Answered by Lord Leong - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises that the UK steel industry's shift towards electric arc furnaces will significantly elevate the importance of high-quality scrap as a material for UK steelmaking. Consequently, the Government is committed to securing an ample supply of high-quality scrap, while also ensuring the market remains fair and beneficial for all stakeholders. We are actively listening to the perspectives of all involved parties and will be exploring various options to address this issue.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisons have operational enhanced gate security funded by the Security Investment Programme, and whether they will publish the names of those prisons.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department is committed to taking every possible measure to strengthen prison security.
The Security Investment Programme was a £100 million investment to strengthen prison security. It was aimed at reducing crime in prisons, including the smuggling of illicit items such as drugs and other contraband.
Airport-style Enhanced Gate Security, comprising of metal detectors and X-ray baggage scanners, is used to search staff and visitors as they enter the prison. It is in use in 54 high-risk prison sites (both private and public sector), including all of the High Security prisons in the Long-Term High Security Estate. The Security Investment Programme funded Enhanced Gate Security to 42 of the total 54 high-risk prisons that have these physical countermeasures.
The following prisons have operational Enhanced Gate Security:
SIP Funded | Non-SIP Funded | ||
Altcourse | Exeter | Northumberland | Belmarsh |
Aylesbury | Featherstone | Norwich | Fosse Way |
Bedford | Forest Bank | Nottingham | Five Wells |
Berwyn | Garth | Onley | Frankland |
Birmingham | Gartree | Peterborough | Full Sutton |
Brinsford | Hewell | Ranby | Long Lartin |
Bristol | High Down | Risley | Lowdham Grange |
Brixton | Humber | Rochester | Manchester |
Bullingdon | Lancaster Farms | Swaleside | Millsike |
Cardiff | Leeds | Swansea | Wakefield |
Chelmsford | Leicester | The Mount | Whitemoor |
Durham | Lewes | Wandsworth | Woodhill |
Elmley | Lincoln | Winchester |
|
Erlestoke | Liverpool | Wormwood Scrubs |
|
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing performance standards for material recovery facilities to ensure purity of all material bales.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Simpler Recycling requires the following recyclable waste streams from all households and workplaces in England: glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste (and garden waste from households only). These measures will increase the quantity of dry recyclable material collected for sorting at MRFs and will apply from 31st March 2025 from workplaces, 31 March 2026 from households and 31st March 2027 from micro-firms (with less than 10 FTEs).
There are existing requirements on material recovery facilities (MRFs) to report the reject rates at each facility in Waste Data Flow question 100 and to undertake composition sampling on material received and report this to the Environment Agency via the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2023.
Defra is working with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) and waste industry representatives to support Material Recovery Facility (MRF) readiness for the Simpler Recycling requirements.
We have engaged with MRF operators and local authorities through WRAP’s MRF Forum to identify challenges with MRF capacity, investment, upgrade timelines, and to work with the sector to identify interventions to support MRFs as they prepare for Simpler Recycling. WRAP is developing interventions to support Local Authorities with setting up new MRF contracts, determine the potential future composition of dry mixed recyclable waste streams and the associated financial implications.
I have instructed my officials to develop further policy options to drive long-term improvement to Local Authority performance, including on potential approaches to improving quality which will support the UK reprocessing sector.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent guidance his Department has provided to local authorities on the (a) collection and (b) disposal of independently certified BS 13432 compliant compostable packaging.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under Simpler Recycling, local authorities and other waste collectors are required to collect the following recyclable waste streams from all households and workplaces in England: glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste (and garden waste from households only). These measures apply from 31 March 2025 from workplaces, 31 March 2026 from households and 31 March 2027 from micro-firms (with less than 10 FTEs).
In May 2024, Parliament made the Simpler Recycling Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024 [1] and Government published guidance [2] that included a description of the materials in scope of collection within each of the recyclable waste streams required for collection under Simpler Recycling in England.
During our call for evidence on bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics, concerns were highlighted by the waste and recycling industry over the suitability for recycling biodegradable and compostable plastics. Consequently, the guidance set out that packaging labelled ‘compostable’ or ‘biodegradable’ cannot be recycled with food waste, nor be collected within the plastic recycling waste stream.
Biodegradable and compostable plastics will also not be included as a separate recyclable waste stream in the amended Environmental Protection Act 1990, and we do not propose to include these materials in any of the other recyclable waste streams. Plastic packaging materials labelled as “compostable”, or “biodegradable” are not generally collected for recycling as these materials can contaminate mechanical recycling streams; therefore, should be placed in the residual waste stream. However, we do recognise the valid role compostable plastics play in some applications and closed-loop contexts (e.g. where they are able to be collected and processed correctly at an industrial composter).
[1] The Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024
[2] Simpler recycling: workplace recycling in England - GOV.UK
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his policies on recycling rates in (a) England and (b) Leicestershire.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Simpler Recycling will ensure 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).
The Collection and Packaging Reforms, which also include a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR), are estimated to increase the municipal recycling rate from around 42% to over 55.9% by 2035, mostly driven by Simpler Recycling and DRS. pEPR achieves further increases in packaging recycling rates of 2%. We do not have projected recycling rate increases for individual local authorities.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department plans to provide to local authorities and material recovery facilities to ensure sorting and recycling infrastructure can be upgraded so it is consistent.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) and waste industry representatives to support Material Recovery Facility (MRF) readiness for the Simpler Recycling requirements.
Simpler Recycling requires the following recyclable waste streams from all households and workplaces in England: glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste (and garden waste from households only). These measures will increase the quantity of dry recyclable material collected for sorting at MRFs and is a requirement from 31 March 2025 from workplaces, 31 March 2026 from households and 31 March 2027 from micro-firms (with less than 10 FTEs).
We have engaged with MRF operators and local authorities through WRAP’s MRF Forum to identify challenges with MRF capacity, investment, upgrade timelines, and to work with the sector to identify interventions to support MRFs as they prepare for Simpler Recycling. WRAP is developing interventions to support Local Authorities setting up new MRF contracts or procurement of other resources associated with implementation of Simpler Recycling requirements. An assessment is being undertaken of the potential future composition of dry mixed recyclable waste streams and the associated financial implications resulting from this.
The MRF operators who are engaged with us are aware of their obligations and are working hard to upgrade their facilities to ensure they can separate the target materials as required by Simpler Recycling.