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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of which waste streams should be included in the proposed extended producer responsibility scheme in the Waste and Resource Strategy.

In the Resources and Waste Strategy, we committed to looking into and consulting on extended producer responsibility (EPR) for five new waste-streams by 2025, and consulting on two of these by 2022. We have currently identified our five priority waste-streams as: textiles; fishing gear; certain products in construction and demolition; bulky waste; and vehicle tyres. This list is not fixed and does not exclude the potential to review and consult on EPR for other waste streams if these are identified as being of equal or higher priority.

We are currently undertaking further scoping and research work to inform our prioritisation of these waste-streams for consultation on the basis of environmental impact.

We have also already consulted last year on EPR for packaging through our reforms to the packaging producer responsibility system. We will consult again this year.