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

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether producers will be required to pay local authorities the full net cost of the waste management at end of life of the products and materials specified in the waste and resource efficiency proposals set out in the Environment Bill.

In the 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy we set out our ambitions of doubling resource productivity and eliminating avoidable waste by 2050. To help us achieve these and other ambitions, we are taking powers in the Environment Bill to enable us through regulations, to require those who place specified products or materials on the UK market to meet, or contribute to, the cost of managing these products at end of life. These powers are in addition to the resource efficiency powers in the Environment Bill.

We are starting with reforming the packaging producer responsibility regulations and will introduce extended producer responsibility for packaging. This will see packaging producers paying for the waste management costs associated with the packaging that they place on the market. This includes those costs currently borne by local authorities for managing packaging waste disposed of by households

We consulted on our initial proposals in 2019 and will be publishing a second consultation this year.

Additionally, we have committed to review and consult on measures such as extended producer responsibility and product standards for five new waste streams, by the end of 2025. These are: textiles, bulky household items (such as mattresses and furniture), construction materials, tyres, and fishing gear. Where extended producer responsibility is identified as the preferred policy approach then businesses placing products on the market can expect to be required to meet or contribute to waste management costs including costs incurred by local authorities.