Plastics: Recycling

(asked on 18th January 2018) - View Source

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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, in relation to Annex 1 of the Communication from the European Commission, A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy, published on 16 January, to what extent they plan to participate in (1) the list of future EU measures to implement the Strategy, (2) the list of measures recommended to national authorities and industry, and (3) the Pledging Campaign.


This question was answered on 2nd February 2018

On 16 January the EU set out its plastics strategy. While EU action to reduce plastic waste is welcome, the UK is going further and faster. The UK has already implemented the world’s toughest ban on plastic microbeads in personal care products, and is the first European country to do so. We are also examining what further action can be taken on microplastics. The EU says “all plastic packaging on the EU market will be recyclable by 2030” - we want to achieve this 5 years earlier. In England in 2016 WRAP set out a vision for all packaging to be recyclable (where practical and environmentally beneficial) by 2025. The EU wants to “drive investment and innovation”. Since 2010 we have provided over £50 million of funding for plastics innovation. Our 25 Year Environment Plan set out how we will go further by working with the Research Councils and industry to bring forward a bid for the next round of Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund awards to help develop a pipeline of new, more sustainable materials that will have a lower environmental impact. We will further set out our plans to tackle plastic waste in our Resources and Waste Strategy later this year.

Reticulating Splines