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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to increase public investment in reprocessing facilities for plastics as a result of the imposition of the ban on imported plastics by China.

The Secretary of State made a written statement to Parliament on 8 January 2018 setting out the action the UK Government is taking in respect of the ban China has imposed on the import of certain types of waste, including post-consumer plastics.

The Government is contributing some £3 billion to waste management and recycling infrastructure via the Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme. Among the projects supported via the programme are a number of material recovery facilities to help extract and sort recyclable material from residual waste, household recycling centres, as well as improved collection methods in some regions to help separate recyclable material at kerbside.

The National Infrastructure Commission is considering waste as part of its National Infrastructure Assessment looking ahead to 2050. We will consider the Commission’s findings and respond to any recommendations as we develop future policy on resources and waste and will publish a resources and waste strategy later this year.