Budget: Reduction of Waste

Lord Bishop of St Albans Excerpts

Tuesday 28th November 2017 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to implement action announced in the Budget Statement to reduce levels of waste.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Lord Bates) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government’s call for evidence to explore whether the tax system or charges could help reduce single-use plastic waste will be launched early in the new year. The implementation of policy thereafter will depend on the outcome of this call for evidence.

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

I thank the Minister for his Answer. While I welcome all plans for reducing the amount of waste that is being created, will the Minister also commit to implementing the strategy announced in April by the last Government, which promised a world-class anti-littering campaign and a litter innovation fund?

[Lord Bates]

We launched the litter strategy for England earlier in the year. That has an ambition to ensure consistency in anti-littering across government, tough enforcement on those responsible for littering and an ambitious clean-up of our streets, highways and byways. The litter innovation fund was launched in August and it will be open to people to come forward with innovative ideas as to how we can implement that strategy. I think we are in a strong place as regards that.