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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the findings of the Recoup UK Household Plastics Collection survey that (1) only a third of recyclable plastic was recycled by consumers in 2015, (2) consumers are confused about what plastic products and types of plastic can be recycled, and (3) there is considerable variation in the plastic products and types of plastic that can be recycled by different local authorities; and what action they intend to take to increase the amount of plastic that is recycled by consumers.

The Government welcomes the Recoup UK Household Plastic Collection Survey as a helpful contribution to our knowledge on plastics collection and recycling.

The total amount of plastic material collected from waste from households for recycling has increased from 279 kilotonnes (kt) in 2010, to over 420kt in 2014. This performance has been down to the hard work of local authorities and residents to recycle more. Around 99% of local authorities covering 97% of households (low rise and flats) in England offer a collection service for plastic bottles. Seventy-two per cent of local authorities covering 67% of households also offer a collection service for plastic packaging (pots, tubs and trays).

The Government recognises that there are still challenges and is working with the Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP) to improve the recyclability of plastics and to help residents to recycle more. WRAP recently published new recycling guidelines agreed with local authorities, waste management companies and reprocessors. These set out in detail what can and cannot be collected for recycling and how householders can help to reduce contamination and increase recycling, including plastics recycling.

The Government has also been working with WRAP on developing and delivering activities in support of the use of recycled plastics in new products, and on activities to stimulate demand. For example, the Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan has identified key actions that need to take place across the whole supply chain to ensure that recycling plastics packaging can be done sustainably. This includes design for recyclability, collections and sorting, reprocessing and development of sustainable end markets.

In September this year, WRAP and an industry advisory group published a framework for greater consistency in recycling collections. This framework aims to identify opportunities to rationalise packaging formats (in particular plastic packaging) to those that are recyclable and for which there is a steady market and to help local authorities to recycle a greater variety of plastics. A working group from this project is looking at the opportunities to rationalise plastic packaging, where practical and environmentally sensible to do so. This includes new communications materials and messages from Recycle Now and work on developing new end markets and applications for recycled plastics. Other work in the consistency framework seeks to promote comprehensive collection services, including for plastic packaging.