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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has taken steps to promote material substitution, in the context of (a) recent trends in the level of Extended Producer Responsibility Fees and (b) the introduction of a deposit return scheme for other drink materials from 2027.

The Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy. The packaging reforms increase producers’ roles in supporting this transition. Packaging EPR will make producers, rather than taxpayers, responsible for the costs of managing their packaging, reducing the amount of packaging used by producers and incentivising recyclable and reusable alternatives.

In line with previous consultations, and the regulations, Packaging EPR base fees in year 1 are designed to reflect the cost of managing packaging waste. From year 2 fees will include modulation to incentivise more environmentally sustainable packaging, initially focussing on recyclability. I

DRS in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland will include single-use drinks containers from 150ml to 3 litres. Materials included are polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, steel, and aluminium drink containers. A DRS will create a separate cleaner, closed-loop waste stream which will mean plastic and metal drinks containers can be turned back into new drinks containers, reducing the reliance on virgin materials. The scheme has not been designed to encourage material switching.