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 is taking to encourage food manufacturers to reduce the use of plastic.

The Resources and Waste Strategy sets out the Government’s ambition to maximise the value we get from resources and to minimise waste. We are committed to being the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we found it, and to eliminating avoidable plastic waste over the lifetime of the 25 Year Environment Plan.

The Government is currently consulting on reforming existing packaging waste regulations to financially incentivise packaging producers, including those who package food products, to take greater responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products. Our plans for Extended Producer Responsibility include requiring producers to pay the full cost of recycling and disposing of their packaging waste and making producers pay more if their products are not easily recyclable. Current packaging waste regulations operate on a UK-wide basis. The benefits of continuing with a UK-wide approach are recognised and our consultation on reforming the regulations is being undertaken jointly by the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments. As the Northern Ireland Assembly is not sitting, the UK Government has agreed to consult on behalf of Northern Ireland.

Industry is already taking action. Last year, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation published their Plastics Pact with support from the Government and more than 80 businesses, including major food manufacturers such as Birds Eye, Quorn, and McCain Foods GB. The Pact brings these organisations together to aim to meet four key ambitions by 2025, including making 100% of plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable. The Government welcomes voluntary initiatives aimed at tackling plastic pollution and will continue to seek opportunities to support such work through policy solutions.

Plastic packaging can have a role to play in reducing product damage, increasing shelf life and reducing food waste. However, there are opportunities where offering food loose may help to reduce plastic waste while not impacting on shelf life. The Government is working with retailers and WRAP to encourage their efforts to reduce waste and to explore the introduction of plastic free supermarket initiatives in which fresh food is sold loose, giving consumers more choice. WRAP has published a technical report on the evidence for providing fresh produce loose. This report will inform future published guidance.