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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the announcement of 7 May 2021, New plans unveiled to boost recycling, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing guidance for all local authorities on the acceptance of recycling paper gift wrap that bears the recyclable logo.

As part of Government’s Resources and Waste Strategy, published in 2019, we are introducing new measures through the Environment Bill to increase the quantity and quality of recycling. These measures will require local authorities to collect the following dry recyclable waste streams from all households in England: plastic, glass, metal, paper and card. The Bill includes powers to specify which materials local authorities should be required to collect in each of the recyclable waste streams (including paper and card). We intend to specify these materials in secondary legislation and may provide further detail in statutory guidance.

Wrapping paper is generally accepted for kerbside collection, however, it can often become unrecyclable due to contamination with sticky tape. Wrapping paper which contain foil or glitter are not recyclable. Recycle Now which is a part of the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), has produced guidance on the recycling of wrapping paper here:

Wrapping paper | Recycle Now