Tax on ‘bad plastic’ expected in Budget to boost recycling

A PLASTIC tax will soon be introduced to curb the use of non-recyclable plastic items such as drinking straws, cutlery and black food trays, ministers have indicated.

The Treasury is working on details of the wide-reaching tax, expected to be announced in the next Budget.

The levy is likely to be applied to businesses producing “bad” plastics to encourage them to switch to more environmentally-friendly materials.

However, the cost of such a tax would end up being passed on to consumers through higher prices until shops stop using materials hit by the plastic tax. Items affected could include bottles, single-use cutlery, drinking straws, takeaway packaging, cling film, fruit netting, crisp packets and plastic wrap.

The Treasury received a “recordbreaking” response to the idea, with 162,000 replies from businesses and members of the public in a consultation. Most respondents said they would back a charge on single-use items including cups, cutlery, lids and straws.

The Treasury said those responses would help shape its policy ahead of the Budget in November.

Last night, Robert Jenrick, the exchequer secretary, said: “Our primary interest is in how we can persuade the producers of plastic materials and the retailers to choose recycled materials wherever possible rather than new

virgin plastics and to deter them from using those types of plastics which are extremely hard or impossible to recycle like black carbon plastic.

“Our focus is on the producers of those plastics and the retailers who are making the decisions about the types of plastic we see on the shelves, rather than the consumer.

“If you read the responses [to the consultation] this is an industry which is very price sensitive so we do believe there is evidence that a tax incentive would be likely to shift behaviour towards more recycled materials. We have a lot more work to do in the runup to the Budget but ... the areas that came up very strongly are the ones we are now doing more work on.”

In his last Budget, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, referenced the BBC series Blue Planet 2 as he announced an investigation into how the tax system and charges on single-use plastic items might be used to reduce waste.

“I want us to become a world leader in tackling the scourge of plastic,” he said at the time.

He added that the details of any plastic tax announced in the Budget, such as the amount businesses would be charged, and which items would be included, had not yet been decided.

Included on the shortlist of favoured policies were reducing demand for single-use plastics like coffee cups and takeaway boxes and encouraging recycling instead of incinerating rubbish.

Louise Edge, the senior plastic pollution campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “Public outrage over the issue of plastic pollution has been explosive over the past year or so. It’s hardly surprising when you see the impact of plastic on wildlife and our oceans, and when it’s clear that so many companies are still pumping out throwaway plastic with no regard for the damage it causes.

“The so-called latte levy on disposable coffee cups seems inevitable now, but that should be just the tip of the iceberg. This is a public mandate to end the age of throwaway plastics.”