Secretary of State for Environment, Michael Gove, has said he wants questions and challenges addressed in a cross-sector agreed plan at a “Plastics Roundtable” held last week (1 December).
Gove held a “Plastics Roundtable” meeting with a number of selected industry leaders from among retailers, brands, manufacturers and representative organisations.
Paul Vanston, CEO of INCPEN was among those invited and contributed to the discussions.
“I felt the Secretary of State (SoS) was very engaged and passionate about the issues,” he said in a statement. “He’s clearly committed to moving swiftly towards solutions, with the UK showing leadership at home and abroad.
“To those ends, he was clear he wished multiple sectors to come together to create a plan that tackles the variety of challenges at hand. Those sectors include the packaging supply chain, local government, resources & waste management, and reprocessors.”
Mr Vanston revealed the SoS posed a number of questions and challenges that he wishes to see addressed in a cross-sector agreed plan including how to achieve greater recycling and recyclability of plastics; how to reduce the range of polymers to help this; how to incentivise both producers and consumers; what solutions there might be for the problems of “on the go” living; and how to increase value chain understanding and cohesion.
“A plan that could inform the forthcoming Resources and Waste Strategy was especially welcomed by the SoS,” he said.
Paul Vanston, CEO of INCPEN – “To those ends, he was clear he wished multiple sectors to come together to create a plan that tackles the variety of challenges at hand.”
The SoS invited WRAP to facilitate those industry discussions in the coming weeks and months alongside willing participants, Mr Vanston revealed.
“As INCPEN’s ambitions align closely with the outputs from the Roundtable meeting,” he said, “I am delighted to do all I can to secure progress with colleagues across the sectors through this WRAP-facilitated process.”
The roundtable follows the announcement in this year’s Autumn Budget, that the Government intends to consult on a potential levy for single-use plastics.
