The cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee has today (9 July) launched a new inquiry into plastic waste.
The committee’s role is to scrutinise the administration, spending and policy of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The government has targeted eliminating all ‘avoidable’ plastic waste by 2042, with measures including a plastic packaging tax (see letsrecycle.com story) and a deposit return scheme (see letsrecycle.com story) to be introduced.
Neil Parish MP: “The tide must turn on plastic use, and fast”
The EFRA committee will now explore the measures announced by the government to achieve its 2042 goal, alongside its shorter-term ambition of only recyclable, reusable or compostable plastic packaging being placed on the market by 2025.
MPs will also question how alternatives to plastic can be found and supported, and what more can be done to ensure that plastic waste is not sent abroad to be “dumped”.
‘Plastics problem’
Neil Parish MP, chair of the committee, said: “We have a plastics problem. Over the past 18 months, even the most environmentally conscious of us have had to resort to single-use plastics in our efforts to control the spread of Covid-19. But the tide must turn on plastic use, and fast.
“The government has announced many new measures to combat our reliance on disposable packaging and products. It is essential that these measures go far and fast enough, and that we do not just end up exporting our problem overseas.”
Questions
The EFRA committee is looking to answer the following questions, with an initial deadline of 10 September:
- What measures should the UK government take to reduce the production and disposal of single-use plastics in England?
- Are the measures announced so far, including a ban on certain single-use plastics and a plastic packaging tax, sufficient?
- How should alternatives to plastic consumption be identified and supported, without resorting to more environmentally damaging options?
- Is the UK government’s target of eliminating avoidable plastic waste by 2042 ambitious enough?
- Will the UK government be able to achieve its shorter-term ambition of working towards all plastic packaging placed on the market being recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025?
- Does the UK government need to do more to ensure that plastic waste is not exported and then managed unsustainably? If so, what steps should it take?
The EFRA committee says it is estimated that five million tonnes of plastic are used in the UK every year, of which almost half is packaging.
Despite “high-profile” campaigns to encourage recycling and reduce plastic use, the committee says, just 32% of all plastic is currently recycled.
The committee expressed concerns about the volume of plastic packaging waste that is exported to other countries, said to be equivalent to three and a half Olympic swimming pools’ worth of plastics every day. The committee cited a recent Greenpeace investigation that found some plastic waste was being dumped and burned in Turkey rather than being recycled (see letsrecycle.com story).
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Source: letsrecycle.com Plastic
