Recommendation 2

HM Government Rejected

We disagree with the Committee’s recommendation to drop the qualifier “avoidable”. 2 The price of plastic: ending the toll of plastic waste: Government Response to the Committee’s Third Report This ambition was set under the 25 Year Environment Plan as part of a comprehensive and long-term approach to protecting and enhancing the environment. Though we strive to eliminate all plastic waste, we recognise that there will inevitably be a small proportion of waste that cannot be kept in circulation, so we need to be realistic. For instance, plastic waste derived from medical settings may prove extremely difficult to eliminate entirely and simply substituting these for other materials may lead to other wastes, which have worse environmental outcomes. Avoidable plastic waste is plastic waste that it is technically, environmentally and economically practicable to prevent from becoming residual waste. To consider the environmental aspect, when plastic is used in the right way and managed correctly at end of life, it can help secure the best environmental outcome. As noted above, therefore, removing the qualifier “avoidable” could lead to unintended consequences that result in a worse environmental outcome. However, the government is also committed to stopping plastic from entering the environment through its international targets and in order to achieve this, all plastic waste must be managed appropriately. This is exemplified by a commitment under the G20 Osaka Blue Ocean Vision to reduce plastic waste entering the marine environment to zero by 2050. More recently, the UK joined the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) to End Plastic Pollution as a founding member. The HAC is a group of like-minded countries that want the future legally binding treaty on plastic pollution to include a target of ending plastic pollution by 2040. This treaty is under negotiation and due to be agreed by 2024. On the subject of compostable plastic, the Committee should note there has been a change in the government’s position since the Resources and Waste Strategy was published in 2018. In this, we committed to work towards all plastic packaging placed on the market being reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. However, since then, we are now focusing on increasing reuse and recycling, not composting of plastic packaging. Compostable plastics are inherently single-use and are not in line with our vision for a circular economy for plastics. Though we recognise there is a valid role for compostable plastics to play in some niche applications, such as tea bags or fruit labels, packaging as a whole does not constitute a niche use and therefore we will continue to prioritise the reuse and recycling of plastic packaging, where a reduction cannot be achieved. The Committee heard evidence supporting the government’s position during oral evidence sessions, with one witness noting that plastics were a valuable material and keeping them circulating round the system would be the best outcome in the majority of cases. While the overall target does not have two-year milestones, it should be viewed alongside other targets with earlier deadlines. For instance, the aforementioned 2025 packaging target and recycling targets. The Committee should also note that we have published plans for monitoring and evaluating progress on the Resources and Waste Strategy, including progress on the 2042 target. Monitoring Progress has been published annually since 2020 and is intended to be published annually in the future. Our evaluation programme has been commissioned for five years starting in 2022. The aim of the evaluation is to understand what has or hasn’t worked, how, for whom and in what circumstances towards achieving our desired policy outcomes (including preventing plastic waste at all stages of the plastics life cycle), deliver rapid feedback on policies as they are implemented to help understand performance and inform adjustments and provide an estimate of the cost-