On World Environment Day this week, Dr Neil Hudson has joined the Conservative Environment Network in calling for further action to beat global plastic pollution. This follows concerted action from the Penrith and The Border MP, having produced with his EFRA colleagues a report on scourge of plastic waste and how the UK can better address global plastic challenges.
World Environment Day is a United Nations outreach day to encourage awareness and action for the protection of the environment. Hosted this year by Cote d’Ivoire, the official theme is Solutions to Plastic Pollution.
A passionate environmentalist, Dr Hudson is acutely aware of how damaging plastic can be. From littering our natural environment and harming wildlife to polluting our soils, rivers and oceans, plastic does not deteriorate like organic matter. It never goes away, instead just breaking down into harmful microplastics.
Today, about 400 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced every year, with less than 10% recycled.
Dr Hudson and the Conservative Environment Network are calling for:
- A strengthened Extended Producer Responsibility scheme to incentivise recyclable packaging by making producers pay for wate they create,
- Government to reward businesses for using reusable packaging and set a target for the amount of reusable packaging it wants to see.
- A small financial deposit on the price of drinks containers to incentivise customers to return packaging.
- The government to deliver on its commitment to explore how to make producers of textiles and fishing gear responsible for the full impact of their products.
- The UK to lead in negotiations and secure an ambitious treaty to end global plastic pollution at the United Nations - just like we accomplished for the climate at COP26.
Ahead of COP 27, Dr Hudson and the EFRA Committee published a report calling for a ban on all plastic waste exports. This followed an extensive inquiry alongside colleagues from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.
The UK exports around 60% of the over 2.5 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste it creates. Turkey is the main destination for this waste. The committee heard alarming accounts of British plastic waste being dumped and burned in Turkey, causing “irreversible and shocking” environmental and human health impacts. As such, the committee set out a range of recommendations including banning the export of plastic waste by 2027; for all plastic waste to be recycled, re-used or composted by 2042; and creating a taskforce to explore ways of encouraging greater uptake of ‘re-use and refill’ schemes. For more details, visit: www.neilhudson.org.uk/news/efra-committee-mps-call-ban-all-plastic-waste-exports
Dr Neil Hudson, MP for Penrith and The Border, said:
“I’m proud our Government is tackling plastic pollution by banning microbeads in cosmetic and health products, introducing a plastic packaging tax, and limiting nuisance single-use plastics like cotton buds. But there is still more to do.
“This World Environment Day, I am calling for the UK to go further to use less, reuse more, and recycle the rest - and crucially, make sure other countries do so too.
“While plastic has many valuable uses, our addiction to single-use plastics is causing untold environmental damage in even the most hard-to-reach habitats. We must set an example to the world by dealing ethically with our plastic waste before it is too late.”
