Wet Wipes: Disposal Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall
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Wet Wipes: Disposal
Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts(2 years, 10 months ago)
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Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that “biodegradable” has become a bit of a weasel word as time has gone on and that it is now a very powerful bit of marketing language that does not always properly describe what you have to look at the small print to find out, which is that things that are biodegradable sometimes also contain plastic? Can he assure the House that the language used in marketing products will not be misleading in that way?
Lord Benyon (Con)
There are many products that we were all told years ago were biodegradable but have now discovered are not, or which may be biodegradable to the eye but break down into microplastics. That is the problem with wet wipes: very often the material may disappear but the plastic is the problem and continues to cause problems in our environment. The noble Baroness is absolutely right.