To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of allocating a greater proportion of the revenue generated from the plastic packaging tax to recycling and collection infrastructure in advance of the implementation of (a) deposit return schemes and (b) extended producer responsibility reforms in 2025 and beyond.
Answered on
6 June 2022
As set out at Budget 2018 when the tax was first announced, future revenues raised from the Plastic Packaging Tax and the Packaging Producer Responsibility reforms will enable investment to address single-use plastics, waste and litter. Some businesses have already started reformulating their packaging to include recycled content in response to the tax, with many signing up to the UK Plastics Pact which has a target of 30% average recycled content by 2025.
Since March 2021, the Government has committed a total of £30 billion for the green industrial revolution in the UK, including more than £300m capital funding at the 2021 Spending Review to implement free, separate food waste collections in every English local authority from 2025.