Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Berkeley Excerpts

Friday 10th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Berkeley (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I am sorry the Minister was not able to be in his place in the Chamber because I think I missed much of his introduction. As ever, we must look at this in perspective. According to the National Geographic, 8 million tonnes of plastic is deposited in the oceans every year, and straws represent 0.025% of that; that is one in 4,000. Here we have a 30-clause Bill to deal with 1/4,000th of the waste problem. The Minister said he is committed to eliminating plastic waste but, as the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, said, he needs to do a lot more. When he comes to wind up, I hope he will explain exactly what he is going to do about the much bigger problem of tackling the rest of the plastic waste in the oceans.