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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he will take to reduce the use of single-use plastic.

The Government published the Resources and Waste Strategy for England in December last year which sets out our plans to reduce plastic pollution and to move towards a more circular economy. This builds on the commitment in the 25 Year Environment Plan to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste.

We have already made good progress, banning microbeads in rinse-off personal care products and removing 15.6 billion plastic bags from circulation with our 5p charge.

We have consulted on banning plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds and are currently consulting on extending the carrier bag charge. We will shortly consult on reforming existing packaging waste regulation, introducing a deposit return scheme for drinks containers and increasing consistency in the recycling system. Legislative proposals will be developed taking account of the consultation responses.

The Government is also committed, subject to consultation, to introducing a tax on plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled context. We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and materials to take a systematic approach to reducing the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products.

A number of Departments, including Defra, have already taken steps to eliminate single-use consumer plastics from their operations. The 25 Year Environment Plan includes a commitment to remove all single-use consumer plastics from central Government offices and the Resources and Waste Strategy has confirmed that the Government will do this by 2020.

Waste and recycling policy is a devolved matter, and the Government continues to work with the Devolved Administrations in delivering our shared ambitions to improve waste and recycling outcomes and promote resource efficiency in the UK.