Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Katz) (Lab)

My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to address this important question on the progress that His Majesty’s Government have made towards achieving our plastic recycling targets. I am also grateful to all those who have contributed to the debate, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville, for bringing the debate in the first place. The Government inherited a situation, as was reflected in the noble Baroness’s contribution, whereby the waste from household recycling rates had stagnated at around 43% to 45% since 2015. We are fully committed to reversing this trend, and building a sustainable future where resources are valued, waste is minimised, and our economy thrives. I am pleased to report significant strides forward through a comprehensive programme of reform. It is worth noting that in 2023 UK plastic recycling rates were 52.5%, which is a good 10.5% above the EU average. We should criticise, therefore, where there are grounds for criticism, but we should also praise our efforts. Collectively, we have made progress. From January this year, the extended producer responsibility for packaging, or pEPR, came into force. This is a landmark reform, and shifts responsibility for managing packaging waste from local taxpayers to the businesses that produce and use packaging. Producers will now fund the full net cost, approximately £1.4 billion annually across the UK, creating powerful incentives to design packaging that is recyclable and reusable. To improve recycling outcomes across the UK, pEPR will bring in over a billion pounds per year in revenue. That is something that we should celebrate. From the second year of the scheme, we are introducing fee modulation to reward producers using recyclable packaging with lower fees, while charging more for hard-to-recycle packaging. This “red, amber, green” system will drive innovation in packaging design and materials selection, and will drive better behaviour as well. We have set ambitious material-specific recycling targets through to 2030. For plastic packaging, we aim to achieve 59% recycling by 2027, rising to 65% by 2030: this is a substantial increase from the 43.8% achieved in 2018, and significantly beyond the 55% target that the EU has set for 2030: we expect to meet or exceed that this year. On 31 March this year, Simpler Recycling came into effect for workplaces with 10 or more employees across England, ensuring consistency in what can be recycled. From 31 March next year, local authorities will collect the same core recyclable waste streams from all households, including glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, and food waste. By standardising collections, we will reduce contamination—mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, in her contribution—as well as improve material quality, and provide the recycling industry with confidence to invest. This represents a transformative step forward. The noble Baroness talked about the export of plastic waste, and we recognise that there are a number of factors that have caused issues in the UK recycling sector. We feel that the shift to pEPR will help transform this, as I have already set out. The noble Baroness blamed contamination, but probably the cheap price of virgin plastic is a greater factor in that move away than contamination alone. On export of plastic waste specifically—following the noble Baroness’s question—I hope that I can provide reassurance that waste exports from the UK are tightly regulated, and businesses must take all necessary steps to ensure that waste exported from the UK is managed in an environmentally sound way. The Environment Agency, as the enforcement body in England, works with our international partners to enforce compliance. Recognising the particular challenge of flexible plastics, currently collected by fewer than 15% of English local authorities, we are requiring kerbside plastic-film collections from all households and workplaces by 31 March 2027. We have also provided financial support for the multimillion-pound FlexCollect project, which funded local authorities to roll out kerbside plastic film collection trials. This is an ambitious target, but no doubt we must meet it, if we are going to make progress on plastic recycling. We have also worked with the Food Standards Agency to confirm that it will act as the competent authority for England, Wales and Northern Ireland—working with Food Standards Scotland—to establish an auditing programme for recycled plastic materials in contact with food, further upholding high-quality UK-recycled plastics. In January 2025, we brought forward legislation to introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks containers in October 2027. The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville, asked whether the scheme is on track; it will come into fruition on that date. A new organisation called UK Deposit Management Organisation Ltd will run the scheme. Once the DRS is introduced, UK DMO will be required to collect at least 90% by year 3 of the scheme. International deposit return schemes have seen recycling rates increase to over 95%; this will transform the recycling of plastic bottles while reducing litter. I recognise what the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, said about the ambition of the scheme and the length of time to make the progress we expect—I think he cited Germany. There is greater awareness of the need to recycle plastic bottles, and younger generations are more responsible on this. We are learning from the experience of Germany and others to ensure that we can meet the ambitious targets of this scheme in time—so watch this space. These reforms are already stimulating investment. In February, the Environmental Services Association wrote to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury outlining the certainty that pEPR has provided. As a result, its members plan to invest over £10 billion to improve recycling infrastructure over the next decade, creating over 25,000 jobs across the country. This is good news for that industry and for the economy more generally; these are homegrown, green jobs that will provide investment in communities and our environment. The plastic packaging tax, set at £210.82 per tonne for packaging containing less than 30% recycled content, creates strong incentives for using recycled materials. At last year’s Budget, we announced support for a mass balance approach for chemically recycled plastic, recognising emerging technologies that can recycle a wider range of plastics. These measures form part of our broader vision for a circular economy. Our forthcoming plan for delivering a circular economy in England represents a fundamental reimagining of how we design, produce, use and recover materials right across the economy, including in the plastics and chemicals sector. I note the tremendous progress achieved through the UK Plastics Pact, supported by the Government and led by WRAP, which the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, mentioned. Since 2018, member organisations have increased average recycled content in packaging from 8.5% to 22% while reducing problematic single-use items by 55% by weight. The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, spent some time on the subject of reuse. We are committed to transitioning to a circular economy, in which reusable packaging plays a vital part. There is already a strong incentive for reusable packaging through pEPR, as producers pay the disposal cost fees only the first time that reusable packaging is placed on the market. Each reuse cycle avoids additional charges, which creates a strong incentive for businesses to adopt reusable systems. At the end of life, reusable packaging can be offset against fees if collected and sent for recycling by the producer, which further reduces pEPR fees.