New measures to enhance wildlife, transform our waste system and
improve the resilience of water supplies have been set out today by
Environment Secretary Michael Gove (Tuesday 23 July). In an update
on progress towards the introduction of the
landmark Environment Bill – the first for 20 years – the
government has published firm positions, following a range of
consultations, on issues ranging from trees to water to recycling,
to boost our natural environment....Request free trial
New measures to enhance wildlife, transform our waste system and
improve the resilience of water supplies have been set out today by
Environment Secretary (Tuesday 23 July).
In an update on progress towards the introduction of the
landmark Environment Bill – the first for
20 years – the government has published firm positions, following
a range of consultations, on issues ranging from trees to water
to recycling, to boost our natural environment.
Mr Gove has set out the government’s ambitions for the full
Environment Bill in an updated summer policy statement,
including commitments to legislate on environmental governance,
air, biodiversity, water, and waste and resource
efficiency.
Environment Secretary said:
“We know we must do all we can to protect our precious natural
environment. There is a clear need to act to ensure we do not
leave this planet to the next generation more polluted, more
dangerous and denuded of its natural riches.
“The measures in our Environment Bill will position the UK as a
world leader, ensuring that after EU Exit environmental ambition
and accountability are placed more clearly than ever before at
the heart of government.
“As we have set out today, our plans will improve air quality so
that our children live longer, restore habitats and increase
biodiversity, strive towards a more circular economy and ensure
we can manage our precious water resources in a changing
climate.”
Announced by the Prime Minister last year, the landmark
Environment Bill will be an essential step to put
the 25 Year Environment
Plan on statutory footing, placing environmental
ambition and accountability at the heart of government. It will
be introduced early in the second session of this
Parliament.
HM Treasury has also published
a summary of responses to its consultation on
a world-leading new plastic
packaging tax that will encourage greater use of
recycled plastic and help to tackle
plastic waste.
The great amount of interest shown from both the public,
environmental groups and industry, highlights how important an
issue this is to many. The government will set out next
steps related to the tax at the Budget.
Government responses to consultations
Today’s publications include responses to six public
consultations and set out next steps for:
-
A deposit return scheme
(DRS) for drinks
containers – More than 200,000 people responded to
this consultation, demonstrating strong support for a DRS
scheme. The Bill will introduce powers that will enable a
deposit return scheme to be implemented in England, Wales and
Northern Ireland from 2023.
-
Consistency in household
and business
recycling – The government aims to make it easier for
people to recycle by implementing a consistent and simplified
approach across local authorities. The government will
legislate to introduce a core set of consistent recyclable
materials (including food waste) to be collected from all
households and businesses, supporting frequent and comprehensive rubbish
and recycling collections. It will also require manufacturers to put clearer
labelling on packaging so consumers know what they can
recycle.
-
Extended producer
responsibility (EPR) – The Environment Secretary has
been clear he wants to drive a shift in the market towards
durable, repairable and recyclable
products. New powers to enact EPR schemes that will ensure
producers pay the full costs of managing the disposal of their
products will be sought, as well as powers to enable government
to set resource efficient product
requirements.
-
Biodiversity net
gain – A mandatory approach to biodiversity net gain will be
introduced in the Bill that will legally require developers to
ensure habitats for wildlife are enhanced, with a 10% increase
in habitat for wildlife compared with the pre-development
baseline.
-
Conservation
covenants - The government plans to legislate on
conservation covenants, a voluntary agreement between a
landowner and others (for example, a conservation charity) to
help guarantee positive local conservation for the long
term.
-
Improving our management
of water in the
environment – The Environment Secretary has been clear that
water companies need to do more to help improve the environment
and better prepare for future demand for water. There was
strong support in response to a consultation on proposals to
improve long-term planning of water resources and drainage. The
Bill will introduce powers to direct water companies to work
together to address these issues, such as transferring supplies
between catchments during drought conditions, and instructing
them to have robust plans in place to maintain
supplies.
Report on air quality
target
The government is committed to tackling air pollution, and has
already published its Clean Air Strategy which the World Health
Organisation praised as an example for the rest of the world to
follow. Alongside the consultation responses, the government has
also published a
report on air quality, assessing progress
towards WHO guideline levels for fine particulate
matter (PM2.5) of
10 micrograms per cubic metre.
On the basis of scientific modelling, which has not considered
economic viability and practical deliverability, we believe that,
whilst challenging, it would be technically feasible to meet the
World Health Organization guideline level for PM2.5 – the most damaging
air pollutant – across the UK. The government will continue to
work with experts on further analysis to understand potential
timescales for achieving this guideline
level.
This will be underpinned by legislation on key measures in the
Clean Air Strategy, giving legal force to our
plans.
The government will also enable greater local action on air
pollution by, for example, ensuring responsibility for tackling
air pollution is shared (across local government structures and
with relevant public bodies) and by better enabling local
government to tackle emissions from burning coal and
wood.
NOTES TO
EDITORS
A policy
statement has also been published
today, summarising progress so far and updating on the direction
and vision of the Bill.
The headline announcements set out are:
Governance
- The Office for Environmental Protection will offer a
free-to-use complaints system, and crucially have the power to
undertake its own investigations at its own instigation.
- The Office for Environmental Protection will be able to take
central Government and public bodies to court for any failure to
abide by environmental law, if necessary.
Air
Quality
- Air quality has been steadily improving thanks to our £3.5
billion plan to clean up vehicle emissions and our Clean Air
Strategy, which the WHO praised as an example for the rest of the
world to follow.
- On the basis of scientific modelling, which has not
considered economic viability and practical deliverability, we
believe that, whilst challenging, it would
be technically feasible to meet the
World Health Organization guideline level for PM2.5 – the most damaging
air pollutant - across the UK.
- We will ensure that all local bodies with powers to control
emissions act together in a coordinated way.
- We will be giving Local Authorities stronger powers in the
Environment Bill to reduce emissions from polluting domestic
burning.
Nature
- In the Environment Bill, we will legislate to mandate
biodiversity ‘net gain’ in future developments.
- We will ensure that the environmental impacts of new
commercial and residential developments are more than made up
for, either on-site or by ensuring money is invested in improving
existing habitats and restoring nature depleted environments to
health.
- We believe mandating biodiversity net gain will secure tens
of millions of pounds a year in additional revenue for nature.
That money will be invested in habitats such as new woodlands,
grasslands and wetlands.
- By legislating for conservation covenants, we can ensure that
land owners have the opportunity legally to lock in the benefits
generated by policies like net gain and our farming reform.
- We will include a new system of environmental spatial mapping
in the Environment Bill.
- We will legislate for a new framework for Local Nature
Recovery Strategies in the Environment Bill, to help support
greener communities, bring greater benefits from biodiversity net
gain and environmental land management – creating wild places
that are bigger, better, and more joined up.
- We will fulfil our manifesto commitment with a clear legal
duty to consult before any street trees are felled, learning
lessons from the Forestry Commission’s investigation into the
Sheffield Council’s felling programme.
Waste and Resource
Efficiency
- Our new legal powers will allow us to set resource-
efficiency product standards, driving a shift in the market
towards more durable, reparable and recyclable products. We will
also set information requirements so that manufacturers can
communicate the resource efficiency of their products more
effectively, allowing consumers to make more environmentally
friendly purchasing decisions.
-
We will ensure packaging producers pay
the full net costs of disposing of their packaging at end of
life. At the moment, producers pay only around 10%
of the cost of household packaging waste. We will make them
responsible for 100% of the net cost incurred in dealing with
their packaging once it becomes waste.
- Where waste cannot be avoided, we will introduce a consistent
and simplified approach to recycling across local authorities,
making it simpler for everyone to recycle, with a consistent set
of materials to be collected from all households and businesses
(including food waste), and clearer labelling on packaging so we
all know what we can recycle.
- We will take powers in the Environment Bill to introduce
deposit return schemes, and powers to introduce an electronic
system of waste tracking to enable better use of waste as a
resource and make it easier to identify and stop illegal
activity.
- We want to introduce a DRS from 2023, subject to further
consultation and analysis of the costs and benefits.
Water
- The government’s priorities for the water sector, in line
with the 25 Year Plan, are clear: they should be securing
long-term, resilient water and wastewater services, protecting
customers from potentially unaffordable bills and also making
sure that we have a cleaner, greener country for the next
generation.
- Through the Environment Bill, we will support regulators in
ensuring that customers and the environment are protected. We
will legislate to strengthen Ofwat’s powers to update water
companies’ licences, in order to make sure that they can do their
job.
FURTHER
BACKGROUND
Extended Producer
Responsibility (EPR)
- The government consulted on plans which will see the costs of
recycling borne by those that produce packaging waste and place
it on the market.
- Currently, packaging producers pay only around 10 per cent of
the cost of dealing with packaging waste. By increasing that to
cover the full net amount, government will incentivise producers
to think carefully about using less packaging, and to switch to
using packaging that is easier to recycle.
- Following the overhaul of the packaging regulations, the
government will explore extended producer responsibility schemes
for items that can be harder or costly to recycle, as set out in
our Resources and Waste Strategy. As well as reviewing existing
schemes for cars, electrical goods and batteries, this could
include things such as textiles, fishing gear, vehicle tyres,
certain materials from construction and demolition, and bulky
waste such as mattresses, furniture and carpets.
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