Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
reports that a global oversupply of petrochemicals has led to
recycled plastics failing to compete with new, and whether they
plan to take any action in response.
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs, and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office () (Con)
My Lords, we are aware of the oversupply of petrochemicals in the
global market, but this is a matter for industry to lead on. It
is estimated that businesses which are members of the UK Plastics
Pact have, on average, increased the recycling content of their
packaging from 8.5% in 2018 to 24.1% in 2023. The Government will
continue to readdress the balance through measures such as the
coalition and packaging reforms and the plastic
packaging tax
(GP)
I thank the Minister for his Answer. However, there was, for
example, three times as much ethylene produced last year as there
was demand for it. As with fossil fuels used for energy, is it
not time to look seriously on a global scale at restrictions on
production, not just working on the demand side, particularly
given that we are all bearing the externalised costs imposed
environmentally and financially in terms of waste disposal and
the companies are taking away profits for unnecessary
products?
(Con)
The noble Baroness raises a very good point. Domestically, we are
seeking to increase the supply of recycled plastics and reduce
the demand, through regulation and tax, for virgin plastics, but
we recognise that whatever we do domestically will not help to
solve this global problem. That is why we are a founding member
of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution. At the
United Nations Environment Assembly in March, we drove through,
with Rwanda and Peru, a commitment to see an end to plastic
pollution by 2042.
(CB)
My Lords, the Birmingham expert commission on plastics and the
environment, which I chaired, recommended the introduction of a
sliding-scale tax on plastic packaging. Can the Minister assure
the House that the Government will introduce such a sliding-scale
tax, which would greatly benefit the environment?
(Con)
We are looking at all sorts of reforms to our measures.
The plastic packaging
tax increases with inflation and has gone up to £217 per
tonne this year. We are continuing to look at extended producer
responsibility reforms and to see whether the work that the noble
Baroness has talked about has an application in terms of how we
deliver these regulations.
of Hardington Mandeville
(LD)
My Lords, we need to use less plastic and actually recycle what
we do use. There is enough floating around the planet already;
there is no good reason to produce more. Will the Minister tell
us whether the Government are going to introduce the deposit
return scheme in this Parliament, and when they expect the global
plastics treaty to be agreed?
(Con)
On the deposit return scheme, we have a date for implementation
of October 2025. Our social research found that 74% of
respondents supported it and 83% of our consultation responses
supported its implementation. We think that there are 3,000 to
4,000 jobs if we get this right. On the international agreement,
as I said, the UK is a founder member of the high ambition
coalition, we are driving it forward and we need other countries
to do it as well. Some 90% of the pollution in our oceans that
comes from rivers comes from just 10 rivers—eight of them in Asia
and two in Africa. That is an indication of the global problem
that we are facing.
(CB)
My Lords, there are growing reports of the detrimental impact of
microplastics in the food and water supplies, which can
indirectly impact on our health. What are the Government doing to
further research this problem and educate the public on this
risk, and what measures are being taken to mitigate it?
(Con)
There are human health issues related to plastics pollution and
huge environmental damage done. At a recent Ospar convention, I
saw a fulmar having its guts opened up for us to look at, and you
can see the plastics in its guts system and its gizzard. It just
gives you an idea of how many thousands—millions, even—of birds
around the world are dying because of plastics pollution. We need
to have a greater understanding of the impact on human health,
and that is why our One Health agenda is really important in this
field.
of Ullock (Lab)
My Lords, the Minister talked about the deposit return scheme,
and said that it would be coming in in October 2025. Why has it
taken so long? People are incredibly frustrated about this; they
want it introduced as quickly as possible. Is the delay partly
because the Government are reconsidering its scope?
(Con)
No, we want this to be a United Kingdom scheme. The noble
Baroness will be aware of complications in Scotland, and we want
to make sure that we are introducing this in conjunction, so that
we do not have booze cruises from Scotland to England to buy
drinks that will not fall within that scheme. We now think that
we can work with this. In the context of the whole piece, with
our plastics packaging tax, and recycling increasing dramatically
over the last decade, we are now requiring households right
across the country, uniform across the local authorities, to
recycle all six waste streams by 2027. With the bag charge, which
has seen a 98% reduction in the use of those, and the
introduction of the banning of single-use plastic straws and a
whole range of other single-use plastics, I think even the noble
Baroness would admit that we are doing our best.
(Con)
My Lords, my noble friend the Minister will be aware that Wales
led the way in introducing a charge for single-use plastic bags.
It was so successful that it was followed in short order by
Northern Ireland, Scotland and then England. However, in respect
of the ban on single-use plastics, on which, again, Wales is
trying to lead the way, I am not quite so sure of the evidence.
Will the Minister say what his opinion is of what the effect of
banning single-use plastics might be?
(Con)
Our restrictions on straws, stirrers and cotton buds have had a
big impact. These items used to appear on the top-10 littered
items lists but no longer do so. According to estimates in our
impact assessment, England used 1.1 billion single-use plates and
4.25 billion items of single-use cutlery per year, most of which
were plastic but only 10% were recycled, so banning these items
will have a significant impact on reducing plastic waste.
(GP)
My Lords, the Minister referred to strong public support for
recycled plastics rather than virgin plastics, yet it is clear
that the market mechanisms are simply not delivering the products
that people can buy. Individual action will not work here. Do we
not need to go much further and faster to ensure that we get to
the circular economy that the Government stand for, and, indeed,
the position where the polluter pays, which is the Government’s
position?
(Con)
Absolutely. The Government’s 25-year environment plan sets out
our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042.
The resources and waste strategy, which was published in 2018,
sets out how we are going to achieve that ambition, mainly by
creating precisely what the noble Baroness said—a circular
economy. We are not the single repository of good ideas here so,
if the noble Baroness has a suggestion that works with business
and the end-user, particularly households, we would be glad to
hear it.
(Lab)
My Lords, in response to the question from my noble friend on the
Front Bench, the Minister said something about Scotland being
different and that being a problem. Could he explain to noble
Lords who are ignorant about these things what the problem is and
what the solution might be?
(Con)
I do not want to rake over the Scottish National Party’s grief,
but it sought to have a different scheme from the rest of the
United Kingdom—for whatever reason we can only conjecture. It is
important to have one system across the whole United Kingdom.
Many businesses and individuals were fiercely opposed to what was
proposed to be introduced in Scotland, and we are glad that the
Scottish Government pulled it. We can now move forward with one
scheme that is effective across the United Kingdom and can really
deliver. Those of us who can remember how deposit schemes worked
in the past can see how it can work in the future. What was
created in Scotland through certain applications of that scheme
would have proved disastrous. We want to make sure that this
happens properly across these islands.
(Con)
My Lords, I understand that some local authorities require seven
different recycling bins, which threatens chaos. Does the
Minister believe that the answer to our recycling challenge is to
increase the number of recycling bins for us all or to make
central recycling facilities work much more effectively?
(Con)
The noble Lord will know that different local authorities have
different ways of doing this. There are technologies now that can
separate plastics and other recyclable waste, but one undoubtedly
needs a separate receptacle for food and various other wastes. I
do not see how our proposal would lead to seven different
recycling bins; it would just not work in those circumstances.
