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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to provide guidance on the collection of plastic plant pots by local authorities under the plastic waste stream, in accordance with Schedule 1, Part 4 of the Separation of Waste (England) Regulations.

Part 4 of Schedule 1 to The Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024 provides a list of plastics which are included in the recyclable plastic waste stream. This includes PE, PET and PP pots which are larger than 40x40mm and do not contain any pigment which prevents them from being near-infrared detectable (e.g. carbon black pigment) within the plastic recyclable waste stream.

^Guidance has already been published to assist local authorities and other waste collectors and workplaces in implementing these requirements.

Defra engages regularly with local authority networks and will raise this matter with them, so they can communicate directly with their members about the legal requirement to collect this material.