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Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Fourth Special Report - The price of plastic: ending the toll of plastic waste: Government Response to the Committee’s Third Report

Published 27 January 2023

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Plastic waste Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to Third Report - The price of plastic: ending the toll of plastic waste.

This is the government's response, published 27 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.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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