B

Baroness Boycott (CB)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 22 April 2026

Debate

Plastic Pollution Reduction

Contribution

I thank the Minister very much—a lot of that is very encouraging, but at the moment only 9% of plastic waste is ever recycled. The majority is incinerated, landfilled or exported to other countries with weak regulation. The industry treats the plastic packaging tax as a routine cost. So can the Minister explain how strong the extended producer responsibility will be, because, if we do it fully, we can get companies to change the content of plastic, making it better for society and better to recycle. For instance, in the USA, a box of Subway wrappers at the moment costs the company $50, and if the EPR were fully implemented, it would be $49. However, if it used a natural polymer, the EPR would drop to $5. So, much as with the sugar tax, we can get people to reformulate if we do it fully and hard. That, I am not sure about yet.

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