MP for Cardiff North fights for urgent overhaul of UK’s plastic and packaging waste system

Anna McMorrin MP, the Member of Parliament for Cardiff North, has called for an urgent reform of the UK’s plastics and packaging waste system following the news that Malaysia is sending back waste from Wales dumped on its beaches, showing yet more evidence of a broken system.

The MP has been calling for a fundamental overhaul in how our waste is managed and has urged both the UK and Welsh Government to ensure that producers are wholly responsible for the waste they produce and bring about the fundamental change that is needed.

McMorrin argued that it is now time to introduce a “Polluter Pays’ system, whereby producers are responsible for 100 per cent of the costs of collecting, transporting, recycling, and responsibly disposing of products and materials when they have reached the end of their lives.

The MP’s backbench Bill on Extended Producer Responsibility proposes the urgent shift that is needed to ensure retailers and producers take responsibility for the packaging and plastic they produce and suggest the creation of a single not-for-profit organisation to provide a governance model for future packaging responsibility schemes.

McMorrin said: “The UK waste system is not fit for purpose. This piecemeal and disjointed process sees a few large companies benefit and masses of waste shipped overseas out of sight and dumped into our oceans.”

“It is unacceptable that countries such as Malaysia are saddled with plastic waste produced here in Wales. We must quickly take action to fundamentally reform our failing waste system.”

“Today’s news stands to highlight that in the battle against plastic waste, more drastic action must be taken to tackle the damage that non-degradable waste is doing to the environment.”