Asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch To ask Her Majesty’s
Government what steps they are taking to ban (1) the sale of single
use plastics, and (2) other single use materials. The Minister of
State, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Goldsmith of
Richmond Park) (Con) My Lords, where evidence supports the case for
a ban we will act, as we have with a number of plastic
items—straws,...Request free trial
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ban
(1) the sale of single use plastics, and (2) other single use
materials.
The Minister of State, Department for the Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
( of Richmond Park) (Con)
My Lords, where evidence supports the case for a ban we will act,
as we have with a number of plastic items—straws, stirrers,
cotton buds—and as we plan to do on further single-use plastic
items. The Environment Act enables us to introduce a range of
other measures to tackle single-use items, including a
deposit-return scheme for drinks containers, extended producer
responsibility schemes and charges on any single-use items,
regardless of material.
(Lab)
I thank the Minister for that reply, but why are the Government
insisting on consulting on every plastic single-use item
separately, when the damage to the environment is well known? We
have just finished the consultation on plates, cutlery, and
balloon sticks, then there is a longer drawn-out process to
consult on wet wipes and plastic cups, and I am sure that there
will then be a further delay, then a few more items will be
investigated. We gave the Government powers in the Environment
Act to introduce a comprehensive ban on polluting single-use
items, so why are they not dealing with this on a comprehensive
basis? It would be hugely popular. Why must it be done item by
item over such a long time?
of Richmond Park (Con)
I very much share the frustrations of the noble Baroness about
how long some of these things take, but it is worth pointing out
that, as she says, we now have the power to ban products which
cause environmental pollution and are harmful to human or animal
health and harmful to nature more broadly. The bans that have
already been introduced, on plastic bags, for example, resulted
in a 95% reduction in sales. Straws, stirrers and cotton buds
have reduced by similar amounts and there are many more products
in the pipeline where the UK Government are very likely to be
introducing the necessary bans.
(Con)
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend and the Government on
going as far as they have. Is part of the difficulty the
confusion over the different types of plastics? On 4 March, the
Government produced a press release on post-consumer plastic,
which includes household plastic and other uses. Would it not be
better for this to be disposed of through issues such as energy
from waste, so that we were dealing with two problems at the same
time: disposing of plastics and feeding into energy for
households to use locally?
of Richmond Park (Con)
My Lords, our approach must put the main emphasis on reducing the
amount of plastic being created in the first place. There are
vast numbers of items that are made of single-use plastic where
there is no justification for doing so, especially since we know
that the vast majority of them will end up in the environment or
managed inappropriately. This must be the focus, but my noble
friend makes an important point.
(CB)
My Lords, the Government’s resources and waste strategy is to
eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042, which is laudable
but far in the future. The plastics pact for businesses and NGOs
has called on all plastics packaging to be reusable, recyclable
or compostable by 2025. Will the Minister support this more
immediate target for eliminating plastic pollution?
of Richmond Park (Con)
I warmly welcome the work that the pact has done and very much
support its ambition. Just a few days ago, the member states of
the United Nations Environment Assembly agreed to a historic deal
whereby we will now be creating a global treaty to tackle plastic
pollution. The UK has championed this for a long time. We
co-sponsored the resolution, and the aspiration is for this new
treaty to become for plastic what the Montreal protocol was in
relation to the ozone layer.
of Hardington Mandeville
(LD)
My Lords, while it is important to reduce the production of
single-use items, there are some which, for health and safety
reasons, should be excluded. These include hypodermic needles,
medical and cleaning gloves, and medical dust respirators.
However, there are others which could be targeted, such as
disposable nappies. What are the Government doing to promote the
use of washable, reusable nappies?
of Richmond Park (Con)
My Lords, there is a whole range of plastics, not least
disposable nappies, where work must be done. We are currently
taking advice in relation to wet wipes, single-use coffee cups,
and cigarette filters, almost all of which are made of plastics,
although as a smoker, I use biodegradable paper filters; they are
just as good and you can drop them on the ground without feeling
too bad—or, indeed, you could stop smoking. All these items, and
there are others, are within the range of what the Government are
looking at in relation to the action that we will be taking in
the coming months.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister will be pleased that the Scottish
Parliament passed legislation banning an extensive list of
single-use plastics from being supplied and manufactured in
Scotland, which is due to come into force on 1 June this year. Of
course, the problem is that, because there is no similar ban in
any other part of the United Kingdom, if these items are
manufactured, imported or sold in any other part of the UK, they
can be supplied in Scotland because of the United Kingdom
Internal Market Act 2020. That is likely to happen, and it will
undermine the Scottish decision. Not even Northern Ireland, which
should be subject to EU regulations because of the Northern
Ireland protocol, has implemented this ban. Was it intended that
the United Kingdom Internal Market Act would put a cap on the
ecological ambitions of the devolved Administrations, or is this
an accident? If it is an accident, can we do something about it,
please?
of Richmond Park (Con)
My Lords, I am not convinced that the argument follows. We are
among the most ambitious countries in the world in terms of where
we are heading in relation to single-use plastics. The European
Union is also putting a lot of emphasis on reducing unnecessary
single-use plastics, as is Scotland. We may be operating in
different ways, implementing different rules and using different
tools, but we are heading in the same direction, and there is no
doubt in my mind that we are moving to an era where the casual
use of single-use plastic is coming to an end.
(CB)
Do the Government intend to have an initiative with the NHS over
the use of plastics, given that it is has been estimated that
133,000 tonnes of waste plastic are produced by the NHS each
year, which make up 22.7% of its total waste? Some plastics are
important for infection control, yet 13.7% of all this waste is
plastic film, often used just in packaging, so the approach
across the whole NHS needs to be different from that across other
aspects of society.
of Richmond Park (Con)
The noble Baroness makes an important point. Single-use plastics
that are necessary within the context of delivery of health
services are well known and, clearly, they would not be caught up
in the measures that the Government are introducing. Beyond those
specific items, the same rules would apply in relation to the
NHS. I welcome our gradual abandonment of the use of disposable
face masks for even the most ludicrous events. The numbers of
face masks abandoned around the world defy belief and have come
to dwarf some of the plastic pollution caused by things such as
stirrers, straws and balloons that we are all obsessed by. I
warmly welcome the world gradually dropping the theatrics in
relation to those masks.
(GP)
My Lords, building on the question from the noble Baroness, Lady
Jones, about the powers under the Environment Act, the Secretary
of State, , has said,
“it’s time we left our throwaway culture behind”.
With that in mind and, noting that the Refill Coalition is
bringing in plans to replace plastic—or indeed any—containers for
washing-up liquid, laundry liquid, shampoo, hand wash, pasta,
rice, cereal, seeds, grains, nuts and dried fruits, will the
Government consult on every one of those kinds of packaging, or
will they simply tell industry and retailers that this has to end
by a certain, reasonable date in line with the UN Environment
Programme proposals, so that they can have the certainty to plan
for that future?
of Richmond Park (Con)
The problem with government is that, sometimes, you cannot just
undermine a sector in a way that has a dramatic impact on its
business model without offering the necessary respect that comes
with a consultation and having thought through the policy
properly. Simply banning these items, which, of course, is where
I want to end up, would have a massive impact on a number of
different businesses. It is right that the Government should
tread carefully when it comes to making decisions which impact so
directly people’s business models.
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