Thank you for contacting me about the general debate on the forthcoming United Nations negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty.
As you may know, this was something spearheaded by the last Government who led the previous negotiations. Sadly, due to disagreements over amendments, an agreement was not found and as such the treaty is yet to be agreed. I do, however, hope that securing the treaty is a priority for the Government. The Government will be held to account over its action on plastic pollution. However, thanks to action taken by the last Government.
Significant progress has already been 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.
Further, also due to action taken by the previous Government, 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 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 ban is helping to 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.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
