Environmental Policy

The legislation will:

• Require the occupiers of non-domestic premises to present certain recyclable materials for collection separately
• Ban certain separately collected recyclable materials from incineration and landfill
• Ban the disposal of food waste to sewer from business premises
• Make civil sanctions available for associated criminal offences.

The Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee has opened an inquiry the Environment Bill to help "ensure that we maintain and improve our environmental protections as we leave the EU".  They are seeking written submission on multiple questions, including: “Does the Environment Bill meet the Government's commitment to non-regression from EU environmental standards?  Does the Environment Bill meet the Government's commitment to non-regression from EU environmental standards?”

The Scottish Government has opened a consultation to allow industry experts, interested stakeholders and MSPs the opportunity to comment on the details of the regulations and allow us to refine the legal approach further– this follows on from a consultation in 2018 on the overarching principles.

The Scottish Parliament Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee issued a call for written evidence to inform their scrutiny of the draft Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations which provide detail about what the deposit return scheme in Scotland will look like.

DEFRA want to know what you think about proposals to introduce a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This would include drinks containers such as:

• glass bottles
• plastic bottles
• cans

The cost of the deposit would be added to the price of the drinks included in the scheme when they are purchased. This deposit would be redeemed when consumers return their empty drinks containers to a designated return point.

This consultation seeks views on measures to reduce the amount of unnecessary and difficult to recycle packaging and increase the amount of packaging that can and is recycled, through reforms to the packaging producer responsibility regulations. It also proposes that the full net costs of managing packaging waste are placed on those businesses who use packaging and who are best placed to influence its design. This is consistent with the polluter pays principle and the concept of extended producer responsibility.