I am delighted that, under the previous Conservative Government, significant progress was made to address plastic pollution, including a ban on microbeads and restricting the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds. The use of single-use carrier bags in supermarkets has reduced by over 98 per cent.
Restrictions on a range of single-use plastics, including plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers have also now come into force. I understand that England uses 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery and over 700 million single-use plates per year, but only 10 per cent are recycled. This new ban is the next step in cracking down on harmful plastic waste.
The Environment Act 2021 sets a target to halve residual waste by 2042. This refers to waste that is sent to landfill, put through incineration, or used in energy recovery in the UK or overseas. This is an intentionally broad target, which will include the most environmentally harmful materials like plastics, rather than banning a single type of material and risk producers moving to a different, more harmful material.
However, we know plastic pollution continues to have a devastating effect on our world’s oceans, people and the wider environment. I am proud, therefore, the UK is a founding member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, a group of over 60 countries, calling for an ambitious and effective treaty.
The UK has been a vocal proponent of a strong and comprehensive agreement that covers the whole lifecycle of plastics including restraining and reducing the production and consumption of plastic to sustainable levels, promoting a circular economy for plastic, managing plastic waste in an environmentally sound and safe manner, and preventing and reducing releases of plastics into the environment.
I am aware that the United Nations Environment Assembly Resolution set an ambitious timetable for the agreement of a new international, legally binding plastics treaty by end of 2024 which was extremely welcome and I hope the new Labour Government will honour the UK’s commitment to securing an agreement on the text. I will be following this issue closely on behalf of my constituents.
Let me finish by thanking you for your campaigning on this crucial issue and assure you my colleagues and I remain committed to the ambition of ending plastic pollution by 2040.
