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 (a) prevent plastic entering rivers and (b) remove plastic pollution from rivers.

Defra is working with the Environment Agency (EA), academics and the UK water industry to understand the scale of the microplastic pollution problem and to establish detection methods to identify, characterise and quantify the types of microplastics entering our rivers. Although there has been substantive research reporting the presence and impacts of microplastics in the marine environment, little is known about their sources, release and impact on freshwaters and their ultimate transport to the marine environment. Defra has commissioned evidence reviews to further understand these issues and will use the outcomes from these and other research to develop policy options/measures/interventions for removing plastic pollution from rivers.

There are currently no consistent sampling, collection or assessment methodologies for measuring micro-plastics in various environmental media (sediments, water column or biota), which means that routine monitoring is not practicable. Defra is also working with the EA, academics and water companies to develop methodologies to enable future monitoring of micro-plastics in wastewater, sludge and the water environment.

The EA takes steps to stop pollution causing harm where they can clearly attribute the source of the substance, as without this information it is not possible for them to take action. One of the sources of plastic pollution comes from small beads used in industrial processes and EA are working proactively to reduce the release of these small plastics pellets from the industries they regulate.

Plastic waste can also provide a source of micro-sized plastics once in the environment. To address this, the Government has set a target to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste within the lifetime of the 25 Year Environment Plan (by 2042) and set aside £20 million for research and development managed through the Plastics Innovation Fund in March 2018. A further £10 million was committed in the 2018 Autumn Budget for continued/additional plastics research and development along with £10 million to pioneer innovative approaches to boosting recycling and reducing litter.