It is right to highlight the enormous benefits that green spaces can bring. They have been more utilised and in demand as a result of lockdown. As the country moves through a phased recovery strategy, we must not miss the opportunity to protect and enhance them.
I am pleased that the Environment Bill will ensure the environment is at the heart of all policy making. It will ensure that future governments are held to account if they fail to uphold their environmental duties. These will include meeting net-zero by 2050, which was a Bill that I brought to Parliament, as well as wider long-term legally binding targets on biodiversity, air quality, water, and resource and waste efficiency.
As mentioned above, I introduced the Net Zero Bill because of my deep concern about the conclusions of the International Panel on Climate Change about measures required to meet the Paris Climate Accord targets. And I was delighted to be recognised as the MP who had achieved more in the last year than any other, at the Green Heart Hero awards in Parliament in February of last year.
I'm delighted that the Government subsequently committed the UK to the Net Zero carbon emissions target. We are the first country in the G7 to legislate and set such an ambitious legal requirement. The Queen’s Speech included plans for the new Environment Bill which will transform the UK’s environmental governance, putting environmental principles into law and establishing a new Office for Environmental Protection.
The Office for Environmental Protection, a new, world-leading independent regulator, will be established in statute to scrutinise environmental policy and law, investigate complaints and take enforcement action when necessary. This will ensure we succeed in leaving the environment in a better condition than we found it. The Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan will also be placed on a statutory footing, and a set of environmental principles will be introduced that will be used to guide future government policy making.
Turning to plastic I have long believed – long before I became an MP – that plastic pollution is one of the gravest threats to our oceans, wildlife, and planet at large.
As Cheltenham’s MP, I launched and led the “Final Straw” campaign in Cheltenham, calling on the Council and local businesses to eradicate single-use plastic straws from our town. In Parliament I voted to ban plastic microbeads, the tiny plastics in face wash and other cosmetic products, which make their way into our seas. That is now law. In addition, the introduction of a plastic bag charge has led to 9 billion fewer carrier bags in circulation, a drop of 83 per cent.
I have also been campaigning for the introduction of a bottle deposit return scheme (DRS) in England. This would mean that people would pay a small extra charge on their bottled goods from supermarkets, as a deposit, and are then returned the amount upon the return of their used bottles in a ‘reverse-vending machine’. I even arranged for such a demonstration model to be brought to Cheltenham High Street, from Norway, to demonstrate to local people and businesses how easy it is to use and why it is such a good idea. Work on this in Parliament continues.
Without urgent action to cut demand, it is estimated 34 billion tonnes of plastic will have been manufactured globally by 2050. I am therefore pleased that the 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment commits the Government to working to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste, with action at each stage of the product lifecycle: production, consumption and end of life.
The Resources and Waste Strategy sets out Government plans to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste throughout the lifetime of the 25 Year Environment Plan. However, for the most problematic plastics the Government will go faster, working towards all plastic packaging placed on the market being recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025.
To keep products in circulation for longer Ministers are also taking steps through the Environment Bill to require products to be designed to be durable, repairable, and recyclable, as well as legislating for the use of extended producer responsibility schemes in a way that incentivises more resource efficient design. The Environment Bill also includes powers to enable the Government to deliver on other commitments in the Strategy which will improve the quantity and quality of the materials we recycle. These include commitments on extended producer responsibility; implementation of a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers (as I have campaigned for) and the introduction of consistent recycling collections across the country.
The Environment Bill also gives the Secretary of State the power to amend two pieces of legislation regulating the use of chemicals in the UK. This will allow the Secretary of State to take further steps where necessary to ensure a smooth transition to a UK chemicals regime following the UK’s exit from the EU. I am encouraged that the Bill makes it possible to keep the legislation up to date and respond to emerging needs or ambitions for the effective management of chemicals.
The Government has also announced key details of the world leading Plastic Packaging Tax at the 2020 Budget, which will help to tackle the pressing issue of plastic waste. The initial rate of the tax will be £200 per tonne and it will be paid by manufacturers and importers of plastic packaging that contains less than 30 per cent recycled plastic.
The UK continues to be a global leader in tackling plastic waste and I am encouraged by the ambition of my Ministerial colleagues to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. The Government is also committed to exceeding the 50 per cent target for recycling household waste and this target remains in legislation.
We must not miss the opportunities - post-Covid –to progress those plans and work with our global partners. It is a challenge I am keen to take up, not least as we prepare for COP26.
