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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to reduce the use of single use plastic in supermarket packaging.

Reducing the use of single use plastic packaging is important. In the 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy we set out our ambitions to double resource productivity and eliminate avoidable waste by 2050. To help us achieve this, we are reforming the packaging producer responsibility regulations and developing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging.

EPR for packaging will see packaging producers paying for the waste management costs associated with the packaging that they place on the market. This will ensure producers are thinking about the necessity of any packaging they use. Where producers use single-use packaging, it is important that it is easily collected and recycled. EPR for Packaging will see producers’ fees modulated (varied) to account for certain criteria, including recyclability. Producers who use easily recyclable packaging will pay less than those who use hard to recycle, or unrecyclable, packaging.

In developing EPR for packaging we will also take consideration of how EPR could be used to encourage packaging reuse and refill systems. We will consult on our proposals this year. This consultation will set out our proposals for the timing of implementing the reforms.

Industry, however, is already acting. The UK Plastics Pact is jointly founded between The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Ellen McArthur Foundation and is supported by the Government. The Pact brings together organisations from across the plastics supply chain with four key targets for 2025 that aim to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated. One of these targets is to eliminate single-use plastic packaging. Our proposed reforms will support the Pact in achieving those targets. 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.