Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to help make it easier to recycle packaging waste.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following support at public consultation, the Environment Act 2021 introduced new requirements for all local authorities in England to make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from all households: paper and card; plastic; glass; metal; food waste and garden waste. All businesses in England must make ar-rangements to recycle the same set of recyclable materials, with the exception of garden waste. In 2021 we consulted on the detail of this policy, including implemen-tation dates and materials in scope of collection – we will publish a consultation re-sponse shortly.
Additionally, we intend to increase the amount of packaging that can be recycled. By March 2027, the government will require the collection of plastic film packaging for recycling from all households and businesses.
To make recycling easier, packaging producers will be required to label packaging as ‘Recycle’ or ‘Do Not Recycle’ adopting a single label format which incorporates the Recycle Now symbol. All primary and shipment packaging (except for plastic films and flexibles) will be required to be labelled by 31 March 2026. An additional year will be permitted for plastic films and flexibles (31st March 2027) to align with the re-quirement for local authorities and businesses to have recycling collections in place for these materials.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on the Resources on Waste Strategy ambition to reduce the amount of plastics ending up in landfills.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In October 2020 we legislated to prevent the incineration or landfilling of certain separately collected material, including plastic, paper, metal and glass, unless it has undergone a treatment process first and only if landfill or incineration is the best environmental outcome. This is in addition to existing permit conditions that already prevent acceptance of recyclable material at landfills and waste incinerators.
We also want to make recycling easier. Following support at public consultation, the new s45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 stipulates that all local authorities in England must make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from households, including plastic packaging. In April last year, we brought in the Plastic Packaging Tax. This will stimulate increased levels of recycling and collection of plastic waste. The introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility in 2024 will also encourage businesses to think carefully about how much plastic packaging they use, to design and use plastic packaging that is easily recyclable and encourage use of reusable and refillable packaging. These measures will reduce plastic waste and divert plastic packaging away from landfill and incineration.
We have restricted the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds and introduced a carrier bag charge which has reduced the use of single-use carrier bags in the main supermarkets by over 97%. More recently we announced the supply of single-use plastic plates, cutlery, balloon sticks and expanded and extruded polystyrene food and beverage containers will also be banned in England from October this year.
We are committed to going further and addressing other sources of plastic pollution, which is why we also ran a call for evidence to help us gather information to help inform future policy on other problematic plastic items and help inform future policy making. Our response can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/single-use-plastic-banning-the-supply-of-commonly-littered-single-use-plastic-items/outcome/summary-of-responses-and-government-response.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce single-use plastic waste.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In October 2020 we legislated to prevent the incineration or landfilling of certain separately collected material, including plastic, paper, metal and glass, unless it has undergone a treatment process first and only if landfill or incineration is the best environmental outcome. This is in addition to existing permit conditions that already prevent acceptance of recyclable material at landfills and waste incinerators.
We also want to make recycling easier. Following support at public consultation, the new s45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 stipulates that all local authorities in England must make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from households, including plastic packaging. In April last year, we brought in the Plastic Packaging Tax. This will stimulate increased levels of recycling and collection of plastic waste. The introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility in 2024 will also encourage businesses to think carefully about how much plastic packaging they use, to design and use plastic packaging that is easily recyclable and encourage use of reusable and refillable packaging. These measures will reduce plastic waste and divert plastic packaging away from landfill and incineration.
We have restricted the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds and introduced a carrier bag charge which has reduced the use of single-use carrier bags in the main supermarkets by over 97%. More recently we announced the supply of single-use plastic plates, cutlery, balloon sticks and expanded and extruded polystyrene food and beverage containers will also be banned in England from October this year.
We are committed to going further and addressing other sources of plastic pollution, which is why we also ran a call for evidence to help us gather information to help inform future policy on other problematic plastic items and help inform future policy making. Our response can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/single-use-plastic-banning-the-supply-of-commonly-littered-single-use-plastic-items/outcome/summary-of-responses-and-government-response.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
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 help ensure that businesses separate recyclable waste from general waste.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We want to increase the recycling of packaging material, food and other recyclable material in the ‘non-household’ municipal sector, which includes businesses, public organisations (e.g. schools, universities, hospitals and government buildings) and other organisations. This will help us to increase the amount of material that we recycle and reduce the amount of waste that we send to landfill.
Following support in response to initial consultation, the Environment Act 2021 stipulates that all businesses will be required to arrange for the collection of a core set of materials (glass; paper and card; plastic; metal; and food waste) for recycling in England
In 2021 we published a second consultation on recycling consistency. This consultation sought views on increasing consistency in recycling, including on the materials in scope of collection; exemptions; statutory guidance for waste collectors and cost reduction options for micro firms.
We are finalising our policy positions and analysis for impact assessment – we aim to publish the consultation response soon.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to support and promote the recycling of paper.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All local authorities in England currently offer a kerbside collection service for paper and card.
To ensure that we recycle more paper and card, as well as other materials, we are seeking to make recycling easier by ensuring that there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England.
Following support at public consultation, the Environment Act 2021 stipulates that all local authorities, and other waste collectors, in England must make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from households, businesses and non-domestic premises (including paper and card). These measures will improve the quality and quantity of materials collected for recycling and increase public confidence in the recycling system.
In 2021 we published a second consultation on consistency recycling collections. This consultation closed on 4 July and sought views on increasing consistency in recycling, including the specific materials that are in scope of collection in the paper and card waste stream. We are currently analysing responses to the consultation and intend to publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to allocate further funding to training and retraining programmes in high carbon sectors.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The government is very aware of the challenges we face in our aim for net zero and is committed to supporting green skills across the country.
The department aims to reform the skills system so that training providers, employers and learners are incentivised and equipped to play their part in delivering the transition to net zero. This is demonstrated in our recent publication of the Net Zero Strategy, published in October 2021.
Building on the Skills for Jobs White Paper, the Net Zero Strategy sets out how our skills reforms will strengthen links between employers and providers, support workers in high carbon sectors with the transition, and help to build a pipeline of future talent.
At the recent Spending Review, we set out investment of £3.8 billion more in further education and skills over the course of the parliament as a whole, to ensure people can access high-quality training and education that leads to good jobs, addresses skills gaps, boosts productivity and supports levelling up. This will support the sector to reform and deliver the technical and skilled education our economy needs. This includes funding for programmes in green sectors crucial to the net zero transition.
Through the National Skills Fund investment, we are delivering skills bootcamps, which are short, flexible courses covering digital, technical, and green skills. Green skills bootcamps are available in areas such as housing retrofit, solar, nuclear energy and vehicle electrification. Several fully funded level 3 qualifications included in the free courses for jobs offer can support learners into green jobs. For example, we have included technical qualifications in engineering and construction.
We have also increased future funding for apprenticeships, where there are a growing number of standards supporting green and low carbon sectors such as the energy supply industry, agriculture and recycling. The department will continue to ensure that the existing skills programmes can be directed to support the net zero agenda and help to identify where the evidence tells us we might need to go further or faster.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to section 57 of the Environment Act 2021, whether all local authorities in England will be required to collect glass directly from households by October 2023.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Environment Act will require all local authorities to collect glass, as well as metal, plastic, paper and card, food and garden waste.
In 2021 we published our second consultation on 'Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England,' which sought views on increasing consistency in recycling. We expect to set out the government response to this consultation, which will include timelines for new requirements on local authorities, early next year.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce confusion regarding recycling in England; what plans they have to require companies to simplify recycling instructions on their packaging; and whether they have plans to legislate to standardise local authority rules over what can and cannot be recycled.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
As part of our Resources and Waste Strategy, we want to make recycling easier and ensure that there is a comprehensive and consistent service across England. This will help to reduce confusion with recycling, ensure that there is more recycled material in the products we buy, and that the UK recycling industry grows.
Following support at public consultation, the Environment Act 2021 requires that all waste collection authorities in England must make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from households. This core set includes: paper and card; plastic; glass; metal; food waste and garden waste. The Environment Act 2021 also requires that all businesses and non-domestic premises in England must make arrangements to recycle the same set of recyclable materials, with the exception of garden waste.
In our recent consultation on ‘Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England’, we consulted on defining these waste streams in greater detail in secondary legislation. We are currently analysing stakeholder responses and will publish the result of these decisions in our government response in early 2022.
Earlier this year we consulted on proposals to introduce Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging in the UK, these proposals include a mandatory requirement for producers to label packaging to indicate whether it is or isn’t recyclable. This will ensure that consumers are provided with clear and consistent information and will help to make it easier for them to recycle. We are currently analysing stakeholder responses to the consultation and will set out further details in the Government Response which will be published in early 2022.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) students (b) mechanics in South Yorkshire have access to the (i) skills and (ii) training needed to service electric vehicles.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The department is committed to playing its part in supporting the labour market transition to net zero. This includes supporting key sectors including automotive and boosting green skills in regions such as South Yorkshire. Building on the Skills for Jobs White Paper and the recent publication of the net zero strategy, the department’s skills reforms will strengthen links between employers and providers, support workers in high carbon sectors with the transition, and help to build a pipeline of future talent. We have a range of existing programmes which support green skills for young people and adults in key sectors such as automotive. These include:
The Green Apprenticeship Advisory Panel (GAAP) has also endorsed the following apprenticeship standards that are available and relevant to electric vehicle service and repair:
Working with employers, the GAAP will continue to review existing apprenticeships standards to ensure they can further accommodate skills needs linked to key green sectors including automotive.
To support young people and adults to progress towards a green career, the department will ensure a strengthened system of employer-led standards are in place, underpinning apprenticeships, T-Levels, and new higher technical qualifications. We need employers in low-carbon sectors to play a central role in designing and developing qualifications and training; and demonstrate where there is demand for green skills, so that we can pivot our key skills programmes accordingly.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the amount of glass that would exit closed loop recycling in the event that a proposed Deposit Return Scheme does not include a re-melt target.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our recent consultation on introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) did not propose a re-melt target for DRS, but the Deposit Management Organisation (DMO), which would be established for the purpose of running a DRS, would have an obligation to pass on any materials collected through the scheme to reprocessors for recycling.
We are continuing to finalise the policy of the DRS and these details will be provided in a Government response which will be published in due course. This will also be accompanied by an Impact Assessment on the final scope and policy agreed for the scheme.
Re-melt targets were first introduced under the current packaging producer responsibility regime in 2013 and have contributed to more beneficial glass recycling. An annual re-melt target of 72% has been set for 2021 and 2022. With regards to glass packaging in scope of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, it therefore is Government’s intention to retain a re-melt target. In its recent consultation, government stated this intention and invited respondents to offer their views on a future re-melt target rate. The Government is considering the responses to the consultation and will publish a government response in due course.
We also want to make recycling easier at kerbside and ensure that there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England. The Environment Bill stipulates that all local authorities in England must make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from households. This core set includes: paper and card; plastic; glass; metal; food waste and garden waste. We recently published our second consultation on recycling consistency which sought views on including on the materials in scope of collection, transitional arrangements, and statutory guidance. We are currently analysing responses to the consultation and intend to publish our Government response in due course.