Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what in situ monitoring is currently carried out on the microplastic emissions from roads.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
National Highways is conducting a research study to understand the level of microplastic pollution in road run-off from the strategic road network. In 2021, a Phase 1 literature review was completed and published on National Highway’s website. The Phase 1 study was used to inform a Microplastics Phase 2 field monitoring programme (2022-2023), which was commissioned and carried out in partnership with the Environment Agency. National Highways will shortly be publishing the findings from Phase 2. National Highways also plans to do more expansive monitoring of microplastics to build upon the Phase 2 work in 2024-2025.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the costs of installation of microplastic fibre capture filters on domestic washing machines; and what engagement they have had with industry regarding the feasibility of installing such filters.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government has taken significant steps to tackle plastic pollution (eg. microplastics), including restricting the supply of several single-use plastics through introducing a plastic packaging tax from April 2022; restricting the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds; and preventing billions of plastic micro-beads from entering the ocean each year by introducing a ban on microbeads in rinse off personal care products.
Defra have been working closely with industry to understand the costs of installing microfibre filters on washing machines with prices ranging from £30 to £122 per machine dependant on manufacturer and whether the filters are disposable or re-useable. Defra’s Plan for Water includes a commitment for industry to develop low cost, effective microfibre filters on washing machines and encourage their effective use.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent microplastic fibre pollution.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government has taken significant steps to tackle plastic pollution (eg. microplastics), including restricting the supply of several single-use plastics through introducing a plastic packaging tax from April 2022; restricting the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds; and preventing billions of plastic micro-beads from entering the ocean each year by introducing a ban on microbeads in rinse off personal care products.
Defra have been working closely with industry to understand the costs of installing microfibre filters on washing machines with prices ranging from £30 to £122 per machine dependant on manufacturer and whether the filters are disposable or re-useable. Defra’s Plan for Water includes a commitment for industry to develop low cost, effective microfibre filters on washing machines and encourage their effective use.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to work with water companies to explore the management of microplastics in sewage sludge.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to safeguarding the natural environment from harms. We have been collaborating with water companies on the investigation of microplastics in wastewater treatment through the National Chemical Investigations Programme.
The Environment Agency have published their strategy for safe and sustainable sludge use. This strategy explores options for modernising and harmonising the regulatory framework with the aim of ensuring the management and use of sludge supports healthy and productive land and soil. The Government is currently examining the strategy’s impact on our environmental outcomes and water and farming industries.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve methods to measure the amount and types of microplastic and microfibres in rivers, lakes, seas and their sediments.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra intends to publish a report that it commissioned on improving the sampling and analytical protocols to determine the quantities, loads and types of microplastics in surface waters and sediments, later this year. Following this, working with the Environment Agency, Defra will consider the approaches to sampling surface waters and sediments to develop provisional standard operating procedure guidelines that will be used to improve sampling, processing and analysing of microplastics in river waters and sediments.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2023 to Question 191885 on Sportsgrounds: Rubber, whether her Department has made an assessment of a potential variation of approach in addressing safety concerns for 3G pitches with rubber crumb in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in line with European Committee for Standardisation recommendations.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government takes seriously concerns regarding Artificial Grass Pitches (AGPs), specifically the presence of rubber infill. Following the UK’s exit from the EU, the regulatory framework for these matters now sits at a UK level (except for Northern Ireland, which will continue to follow EU REACH requirements).
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) commissioned an evidence project, under the UK REACH 2022/23 Work Programme, on intentionally added microplastics, including rubber infill. This will assess any risks they pose, and will inform any future regulatory actions in the UK.
The sports councils across the UK (Sport England, Sport Wales, sportscotland, Sport NI) are working together with leading sport bodies and respective governments to appropriately manage the transition away from rubber infill, and to identify suitable alternatives. The Group's latest statement on the issue can be viewed here.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the prominence of microplastic contaminants in human tissue samples.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is aware of a several published research papers that report finding microplastic particles in human tissues such as a lung and diseased liver. These studies are small but do indicate the potential of small numbers of microplastic particles to enter some human tissues. UKHSA is not directly involved with this work and is not currently assessing the prevalence of microplastic particles in human tissues, but does have some research work ongoing with Imperial College London to look at the factors that contribute to the uptake of microplastic particles into tissues.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of microplastics in the air within (a) houses, (b) large cities, (c) hospitals and (d) health care environments.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency undertakes a range of ambient air quality monitoring on behalf of Defra including particulate matter monitoring. Particulate matter is a complex pollutant that could include some proportion of microplastics but this is not routinely assessed. Near real time data on particulate matter levels, as well as other pollutants, are made available on UK Air website.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of microplastic contaminants on public health.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The potential impact of microplastic materials on human health has been assessed in 2021 by the UK Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) who published an overarching statement on potential risks from exposure to microplastics.
The COT concluded that it is not yet possible to perform a complete assessment for the potential risks to human health from exposure to micro and nanoplastics via the oral and inhalation routes". The COT made a number of recommendations for further research including understanding the risk of exposure from the oral and inhalational routes. UKHSA has work ongoing in this area in small projects in collaboration with Imperial College. These projects, while limited, are assisting the understanding of the potential risks from exposure to micro and nano plastics from inhalational and oral exposure.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of impact of plastic waste in the environment on the food chain.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No specific assessment has been made on the impact of plastic waste on the food chain. However, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is monitoring and assessing emerging information concerning microplastics in food and beverages. The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products, and the Environment concluded in 2021 that, based on current data, "it is not yet possible to perform a complete assessment for the potential risks from exposure to micro and nanoplastics via the oral and inhalation routes”. The FSA considers it is unlikely that the presence of these particles in food or drink would cause harm to consumers, based on current information; however, this will be kept under review as new evidence becomes available.