Written question asked by Matthew Offord (Conservative) on Wednesday, 13 March 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 15 March 2019. It was answered by Robert Jenrick (Conservative) on Wednesday, 20 March 2019 on behalf of the Treasury.

Plastics: Waste

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the economy of plastic pollution.

Answer: This government has pledged to ensure that this will be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than it found it. As part of this, government will introduce a world-leading new tax on plastic packaging, and reform the packaging producer responsibility system so that producers of all packaging materials are responsible for the full costs of managing waste packaging. At Budget 2018, government also announced a £20m innovation fund to tackle single-use plastics. Alongside these measures, government has committed to remove consumer single-use plastics from central government buildings by 2020. Together, these policies form part of the government’s wider strategy on tackling waste, as detailed in the Resources and Waste Strategy published in December 2018.

Secondary information