Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Conclusion 17
Third Report - The price of plastic: ending the toll of plastic waste
Published 7 Nov 2022
Paragraph 82
Addressed to Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Plastic waste All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We welcome the previous Government’s efforts, through the Plastic Packaging Tax and other reforms, to increase the demand for recycled plastics and thereby its aim to make the recycling sector more investable in the long run, helping the UK boost its recycling capacity. However, further action is needed to increase the capacity of the recycling sector more quickly—particularly in the short term—and supply 60 The price of plastic: ending the toll of plastic waste manufacturers with the recycled materials that government wants and needs them to use. We are not convinced that the aggregated current measures alone will resolve the problem of cheaper virgin plastics and unstable returns on investment which hinders investor confidence.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Third Report - The price of plastic: ending the toll of plastic waste (HC 22), paragraph 82, 7 November 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 27 January 2023 (deadline 7 January 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with the Committee on the importance of the waste hierarchy and on reuse, but disagrees with several recommendations, including dropping the qualifier "avoidable" from the 2042 plastic waste target and a ban on all plastic waste exports.
- It agrees that more use of reusable packaging is desirable and intends to "come forward with our proposals in 2024" on measures such as targets, obligations and whether there is a role for modulating fees.
- It disagrees with an exit strategy for the Packaging Waste Recovery Note system within a year of EPR starting, because it wants "to make sure we put the right measures in place at the right time".
- It disagrees with modulating the Plastic Packaging Tax, saying the 30% recycled content threshold is "ambitious", and keeps the rate and threshold "under review". Changes are a matter for Treasury Ministers.
- It disagrees with a ban on all plastic waste exports, expecting "legitimate exports to continue", and has committed to banning exports of plastic waste to non-OECD countries.