My Lords, I rise mainly to speak to Amendment 8, though my observations are also relevant to the other proposals. I share the mover’s desire to reduce plastic use and plastic waste, especially given the damage they are doing to our rivers and oceans and the creatures they support. We have all seen the horrific pictures of fish throttled by plastic, and there is growing awareness of the growth of plastic use and its irresponsible disposal—but this amendment would not provide the best way to achieve the desired objectives.
The proposals are inappropriately interventionist and wasteful of administrative effort and political capital. They are also insufficiently radical, as they mainly focus on single-use plastic. Using a bag, a cup or a fork—or, indeed, a plastic car part—twice is only marginally better than using it only once. The question is whether the use of the resource is justified or whether the need could be satisfied in a way that did not use damaging plastic.
10 pm
I am also of the view that we should not focus the Bill and our efforts on yet another strategy and yet more targets in this area. We need action now—I think that the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, feels the same way—and preferably on an international basis. What plans does the Minister have to encourage international effort in this area? Do the Government perhaps envisage raising it at COP 26, when all those who could drive real change on plastics are gathered together?
We also need research to develop and get to market substitute products that break down safely and rot in a few years. I have seen everyday plastics that break down within 18 months pioneered at Imperial College.
The French have developed plastic substitutes made from vegetable crops and the Italian fashion industry has pioneered the reuse of plastics such as fishing nets in its designer clothing. Use of such technologies should be invested in around the world.
Plastic is oil based, and the stratospheric growth in its use needs to be reduced by international action and domestic taxation. Small changes such as the phasing out of plastic straws, forks and microbeads are fine and to be commended, but they do not begin to bring about the change in resource use that we need. Sadly, the Government have been too slow in reducing the damage caused by plastics. I have been calling for many years for a decent national recycling system for plastics, with proper labelling of products and recycling bins backed by sensible incentives to replace the motley collection of schemes run by different local authorities. I welcome the move towards a single, consistent scheme of recycling across the UK, and ask my noble friend the Minister when that will come in. In this case, we should have a uniform system of bins and labelling to get recycling up from current levels, reducing the pressure on landfill, which has been mentioned in this debate, and making it easy for the consumer to help with the change that we need in plastic use.
In conclusion, I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for the progress that is at last being made on plastics with this Bill—and I think there are a lot of powers in the Bill—but I urge him to focus on the detail and actually to deliver. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, for initiating this debate, but I believe that her objectives could be better met by other means.