Key recommendations UK Committee’s plastic waste report rejected by government

Surprise and disappointment were the foremost emotions expressed by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee after the government disagreed with key recommendations in its report on dealing with the growing problem of plastic waste.

Published at the beginning of November 2022, the report - compiled by the cross-party MPs’ parliamentary scrutiny body - called for a ban on the export of all plastic waste by the end of 2027, as according to the report, a large amount of this waste ends up being illegally dumped. A similar recommendation was recently made by the government-commissioned Independent Review of Net-Zero. The Committee backed up its recommendation with evidence of British plastic waste being dumped and burned in Turkey, causing “irreversible and shocking” environmental and human health impacts. 

The UK currently sends around 60% of the plastic waste it generates abroad for processing, which is in line with the government’s stance that legitimate exports have a role in the management of UK waste. The government does intend to ban plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries, but, noted the Committee, these destinations only accounted for 20% of all UK exports in 2020 and this figure looks set to shrink even further.
Halting all exports of plastic waste would encourage the development of a larger recycling industry in the UK, said the Committee, which would create jobs and boost the economy as well as being better for the environment. 

In reaction to the government’s response to the EFRA Committee’s plastic waste recommendations, Geoff Bright, Chief Sustainability Officer of chemical recycler Mura Technology, referred to the lack of support for the Committees aspiration to ban all waste plastic exports by 2027 as a ‘missed opportunity’.

“Defra are aware that there is a significant shortfall in infrastructure, yet, if this material is exported, not only is this open to continuing waste crime and dumping in other places, less material is available to be recycled domestically. This undermines investment potential within the UK and will divert infrastructure investment towards the EU and US.”

The Committee’s report made recommendations across the whole plastic supply chain - including calling for tougher targets and a better focus on reduction and reuse of plastics - most of which have been rejected by the government.  Its recommendation to extend the EPR exemption threshold down from businesses that produce less than 50 tonnes of plastic packaging to companies producing over 1 tonne of plastic packaging, was also spurned.

The government said this would place too much of a burden on small producers, despite the Committee recommending that this should not be put in place until 2030, so allowing smaller enterprises time to adapt. 

The Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Sir Robert Goodwill MP, said the response was a ‘shame’. 
“Our recommendation to ban plastic waste exports by 2027 was partly aimed to help develop a multimillion-pound plastic waste recycling industry in the UK, supporting hundreds of jobs,” he said.

Geoff Bright noted that the UK Government’s response to the EFRA report has underplayed both the seriousness of the issue of plastic in the environment, and also its contribution to climate change. The Committee’s proactive stance on chemical recycling as a viable and essential solution to the plastic challenge has also simply been dismissed, he said.
“The time is now for strong leadership in waste and recycling. If the UK Government is to meet its targets of eliminating avoidable plastic waste by the end of 2042, advanced plastic recycling capacity will need to be grown.”