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

To ask His Majesty's Government what evaluation they have made of the commercial viability of the use of compostable potato starch bag packaging by government agencies.

HM Government is not currently providing any specific support for the development of compostable potato starch bag packaging and have not evaluated the commercial viability of using compostable potato starch bag packaging by government agencies. Through UK Research and Innovation, we have provided over £190 million to over 280 projects in the last 5 years, for research to help us reduce plastic waste and increase the sustainability of the plastic packaging we use.

In light of evidence received in response to our call for evidence on bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastic, our focus is on working towards all plastic packaging being recyclable or reusable rather than compostable. Currently there is insufficient industrial composting capacity throughout England to manage compostable plastics at end of life and our call for evidence suggests these materials are often stripped out at the start of the process and landfilled or incinerated. This packaging also does not contribute to a circular economy in the same way as packaging that can be reused or recycled into new packaging or products do, as compostable plastic packaging is generally intended to be used once.