Waste Disposal

(asked on 4th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will is take steps to encourage the expansion of refill stations in supermarkets to reduce the generation of non-recyclable waste.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 14th June 2021

The Government's 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042.

Industry is already taking action. The UK Plastics Pact jointly founded by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Ellen McArthur Foundation is supported by the Government. The Pact brings together organisations from across the plastics supply chain, including all the major supermarkets, with four key targets for 2025 that aim to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated. Current Pact business members are responsible for 80% of plastic packaging sold through UK supermarkets.

Through the Pact, work has been done to increase the sale of unpackaged products. The WRAP Fresh Produce Guidance was published in November 2019 which includes advice for retailers to help determine if fresh produce can be provided loose. In June 2019, Waitrose & Partners unveiled a new trial, 'Waitrose Unpacked', to explore alternative ways of shopping. It included a dedicated refillable zone, the UK's first supermarket frozen 'pick and mix' station, and the first borrow-a-box scheme are among a series of ideas being looked at in a unique test in order in order to potentially save thousands of tonnes of unnecessary plastic and packaging. Since its initial introduction in their Botley Road branch in Oxford this initiative has been extended to three other stores in Wallingford, Abingdon, and Cheltenham and they continue to extend the range of products available unpacked.

Alongside supporting voluntary action by industry, the Government is taking regulatory action to reduce the use of non-recyclable waste. For instance, the single-use carrier bag charge, which has led to a 95% reduction in the use of single-use carrier bags by the main supermarkets, was increased to 10p and extended to all retailers on 21 May 2021. This will further encourage customers to bring their own bags to carry shopping and reduce the volumes of single-use plastic being used.

The Government is also reforming the packaging producer responsibility regulations and developing extended producer responsibility for packaging. Extended producer responsibility for packaging will see packaging producers pay the waste management costs associated with the packaging they place on the market. This will encourage producers to consider the necessity of any packaging they use. In developing extended producer responsibility for packaging, we will also consider how the use of packaging reuse and refill systems can be encouraged. The Government has stated its intention to bring forward proposals for reuse/refill targets by the end of 2023 and introduce targets or obligations on producers from 2025. The Government consultation on extended producer responsibility for packaging closed on 4 June 2021, more details can be found at:

https://consult.defra.gov.uk/extended-producer-responsibility/extended-producer-responsibility-for-packaging/.

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