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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to monitor and tackle the environmental impact of single-use packaging waste on terrestrial trail ecosystems, including public rights of way.

Local councils are responsible for keeping their public land clear of litter and refuse.

We are targeting some of the more commonly littered items to reduce the presence of these in our communities. The sale of single-use vapes was banned from 1 June 2025 and a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers will go live in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland in October 2027. The Deposit Return Scheme will cover plastic and metal drinks containers (like bottles and cans which make up 55% of litter volume), and the goal is to reduce litter and help keep our streets, rivers, and oceans clean.

We have a number of restrictions on other unnecessary single use plastic products and we will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/or materials to take a systematic approach, in line with circular economy principles, to reduce the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products and encourage reuse solutions. These measures help reduce litter at the source and reduce pollution on terrestrial trail ecosystems.