17th June 2022

Dear Justin Tomlinson,

The need to reduce plastic production is clear. It is key to reducing and eventually eliminating plastic pollution, and the disease and suffering caused by it. Reducing plastic production needs to be prioritised over a failed system of plastic recycling, waste incineration / waste-to-energy, landfill, chemical recycling, and illegal dumping on poor countries. The Plastic Free Swindon website substantiates these points in depth.

We are still waiting for effective legislation to take the steps required to reduce plastic production. Measures introduced so far have been insufficient:

• The Environment Act 2021 fails to provide the effective legislation offered by the Plastic Pollution Bill; a structured timetable to reduce plastic production.
• We wrote to you in 2021 to demonstrate that the Plastic Packaging Tax, part of the Environment Act 2021, is fundamentally flawed.
• The first public consultation for a Deposit Return Scheme occurred in 2019, yet the government states that one will be implemented in 2024.
• We corresponded with you in 2020/21, repeatedly asking for guarantees that trade deals wouldn’t further plastic pollution or make it more difficult to introduce effective legislation to deal with it. You did not provide any guarantees.
• Economic inequality is closely correlated to many social and environmental ills including plastic pollution. It is at gargantuan levels and rising, as made clear by Oxfam’s Inequality Kills report, so bad that it’s been labelled the “cost of living crisis”. The extremely wealthy are rapidly increasing their wealth, meaning that everyone else is squeezed. Refill’s most recent public survey shows that this is a major barrier for people trying to shop sustainably and ethically. The government’s policies have enabled this situation, allowing big business to profit at our expense. If we are to deal with ecological and social crises, and avoid further pandemics, we must work towards economic equality.

This World Refill Day, people all over the UK and around the world will take action to support and promote Refill / reuse. We reaffirm the urgency to prioritise the reduction of plastic production and the importance of reuse to do that. Effective governance and legislation would speed up this process but has so far not been forthcoming. Zero waste systems incorporating reuse must be the goal for a healthy, happy future on planet Earth.

Yours sincerely,

Helen H
Plastic Free Swindon

21st June 2022

Dear Helen,

Thank you for taking the time to contact me on this important issue, it is appreciated.

This is an issue I feel very strongly about. Prior to being the MP, I was the Councillor who introduced free kerbside recycling for plastics in Swindon.

The Resources and Waste Strategy for England sets out the Government’s plans to reduce, reuse, and recycle more plastic than we do now. I am glad that ministers have committed to work towards all plastic packaging placed on the market being recyclable or reusable by 2025.

I welcome the significant progress that has already been made to address plastic pollution. This includes introducing one of the world’s toughest bans on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products and bringing in measures to restrict the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds. The use of single-use carrier bags has been reduced in the main supermarkets by over 95 per cent with the 5p charge. I know that this has been increased to 10p and extended it to all retailers.

The Government recently consulted on proposals to ban the supply of single-use plastic plates, cutlery, and balloon sticks, and expanded and extruded polystyrene food and beverage containers, including cups. Rightly ministers are committed to going further and addressing other sources of plastic pollution and ran a call for evidence to gather information on other problematic plastic items, including wet wipes, tobacco filters, sachets, and other single-use cups.

Further, the Environment Act 2021 includes a raft of new powers to address plastic pollution and litter, including a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers, which will recycle billions more plastic bottles and stop them being landfilled or littered. The Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for packaging will make manufacturers responsible for the full net cost of recycling their packaging waste and encourage more recyclable packaging. These measures will incentivise producers of packaging to make more sustainable decisions at the design stage and take greater responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products. In addition, the Act establishes greater consistency in the recycling system and introduces new powers to make it easier to place charges on single-use plastic items that threaten our ecosystems.

I also think it is time retailers / manufacturers started to make significant progress. Many have made bold claims, yet I see too little progress – Government will have to force progress if we don’t see significant progress.

Finally, no government in the history of this country has gone as far as this one in legislating for a greener and cleaner future. There is of course more to be done; however, I can assure you that the government takes these matters incredibly seriously.

Thank you again for your email.

Kind regards,
Justin [Justin Tomlinson MP]

11th July 2022

Dear Justin Tomlinson,

Thanks for your response.  To address each point:

• We need to do much better than kerbside recycling.  The current recycling system is inept.  For plastics, the magnitude of pollution is due to a failed system reliant on plastic recycling.  The plastics industry knew this from the 1970s yet facilitated the expansion of plastic recycling under false pretences, claiming that it was sustainable / healthy.  The answer to plastic pollution is to reduce plastic production, not further focus on a failed system of plastic recycling.
• The Resources and Waste Strategy may well set out government plans.  But how can anyone trust the government to implement them?  The government’s desperation for trade deals at any cost, facilitation of the interests of Big Business over the public and national interest, convoluted and ineffectual legislation, and moves towards unaccountability are all noted.
• Yes, the government has introduced measures to reduce plastic pollution, but it is a literal drop in the ocean of what’s required.  The Deposit Return Scheme that you mention has been put back until 2024; as has Extended Producer Responsibility.  Why such a long wait?  These measures may never happen if trade deals hinder our ability to introduce effective legislation. You would not provide guarantees that this wouldn’t be the case.
• Legislating on plastic items individually would be a very slow process.  We need effective legislation across the board.  Again it is noted that the government bypassed effective legislation in the form of the Plastic Pollution Bill for the ineffectual, convoluted mess that we currently have.  That is a convenient way to obfuscate, to hide the lack of effective action that the government has taken so far.
• Have you read the section on The Environment Act 2021 on the Plastic Free Swindon website. It includes the Plastic Packaging Tax, which was shown to be fundamentally flawed and unfit for purpose.  It details that the act is not comprehensive.  To reiterate, you must do better than plastic recycling.  Have you taken the time to read the other resources on the Plastic Free Swindon website?  The case is clearly made.
• Plastic is cheap and light, so commonly chosen by businesses who must compete in the ‘just in time’ global food system.  This has helped drive standards lower, one of many reasons that we need strong, effective legislation.  The free market, as we have consistently seen, doesn’t regulate itself.    It has always been about enabling the unsustainable, unethical means of big business which are core to plastic pollution and other social and environmental crises.
• We have not been in such a dire position before.  The government has resisted effective legislation as it has compromised the freedom to act by the threatened loss of funding from large corporate and private donors and the loss of support from Big Business who are adamant over their right to maximise profit by externalising costs to the detriment of the public’s health and well being and the destruction of the natural environment.
• You didn’t comment on the current levels of inequality.  Refill’s survey for World Refill Day detailed how the cost of living crisis is pushing many people into buying cheap items wrapped in single-use plastic, which is furthering plastic pollution.  This serves the profits of Big Business at the expense of our and the natural environments health and well-being.  Do you care to comment on the obscene levels of inequality that currently exist, enabled through government policy?  It is feeding a myriad of social and environmental ills.

Your sincerely,

Helen H
Plastic Free Swindon

16th June 2022

Dear Robert Buckland,

The need to reduce plastic production is clear. It is key to reducing and eventually eliminating plastic pollution, and the disease and suffering caused by it. Reducing plastic production needs to be prioritised over a failed system of plastic recycling, waste incineration / waste-to-energy, landfill, chemical recycling, and illegal dumping on poor countries. The Plastic Free Swindon website substantiates these points in depth.

We are still waiting for effective legislation to take the steps required to reduce plastic production. Measures introduced so far have been insufficient:

• The Environment Act 2021 fails to provide the effective legislation offered by the Plastic Pollution Bill; a structured timetable to reduce plastic production.
• We wrote to you in 2021 to demonstrate that the Plastic Packaging Tax, part of the Environment Act 2021, is fundamentally flawed.
• The first public consultation for a Deposit Return Scheme occurred in 2019, yet the government states that one will be implemented in 2024.
• We corresponded with you in 2020/21, repeatedly asking for guarantees that trade deals wouldn’t further plastic pollution or make it more difficult to introduce effective legislation to deal with it. You did not provide any guarantees.
• Economic inequality is closely correlated to many social and environmental ills including plastic pollution. It is at gargantuan levels and rising, as made clear by Oxfam’s Inequality Kills report, so bad that it’s been labelled the “cost of living crisis”. The extremely wealthy are rapidly increasing their wealth, meaning that everyone else is squeezed. Refill’s most recent public survey shows that this is a major barrier for people trying to shop sustainably and ethically. The government’s policies have enabled this situation, allowing big business to profit at our expense. If we are to deal with ecological and social crises, and avoid further pandemics, we must work towards economic equality.

This World Refill Day, people all over the UK and around the world will take action to support and promote Refill / reuse. We reaffirm the urgency to prioritise the reduction of plastic production and the importance of reuse to do that. Effective governance and legislation would speed up this process but has so far not been forthcoming. Zero waste systems incorporating reuse must be the goal for a healthy, happy future on planet Earth.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Bell
Plastic Free Swindon