The Committee is again chaired by labour MP Mary Creagh, who has challenged the department over a number of years, and includes Green party leader Caroline Lucas and Conservative minister Thérèse Coffey.
Over 100 pieces of evidence was received before the enquiry could be completed due to the snap general election in June.
The inquiry comes as the Scottish government recently announced that Scotland will be introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers (see letsrecycle.com story). And Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove, said that a DRS would be a “great idea” providing that the effectiveness of the DRS was ensured before implementing it, said a statement by the government.
In the announcement, the government said that the deposit scheme in Germany costs around three times as much per container as household-based collection systems and Germany recycled over 90% of its polyethylene terephthalate bottles in 2015.
The statement also stressed the pressing need to find a solution to the recyclability of coffee cups. Coffee cups are lined with polyethylene which cannot be separate out in standard UK recycling mills, making recycling of paper cups uncommon the UK.
There are currently only two sites in the UK that have the capacity to separate the plastic film from the paper and allow it to be recovered and recycled into new paper products.
Submissions of evidence can be sent to the committee until Friday 29th September addressing the impact, progress and solutions around disposable packaging.
Waste Crime
Meanwhile, Mr Gove attended an Environment, Food, Rural Affairs committee meeting on Wednesday (13 September) to discuss the “urgent” problem of waste crime.
Speaking to the committee, Mr Gove said: “I have been talking with the team at the Environment Agency about how we do that, but one of the most urgent problems that we face in waste terms is that there are a number of illegal waste sites and the number has gone up.
“There are links between those who are operating outside of the law in the waste industry and other forms of crime. I’m keen to do more on that.”
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