Tag Archives: Plastic Pollution

The Voice

Alistair Carmichael’s Commons First “President-Elect Biden”

By The Voice | Thu 5th November 2020 - 6:15 pm

Alistair Carmichael had a Commons first today. He was the first person in the UK Parliament to refer to President-Elect Biden.

He was presenting his Bill to tackle plastic pollution. When Speaker Dame Rosie Winterton asked him when it would be debated, he said “Nine days after President-Elect Biden’s inauguration.”

If he has tempted fate, he will be in massive amounts of trouble…

So what is his bill about?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | Leave a comment
Kirsten Johnson

Lib Link: Wera Hobhouse MP on banning exports of plastics

By Kirsten Johnson | Wed 12th June 2019 - 8:21 am

Wera Hobhouse had a piece published on Politics Home yesterday on banning the export of plastics.

It goes without saying that the wealthiest countries, like us, who have the privilege of the means to be able to sustainably deal with waste, need to accept responsibility instead of shipping plastic waste around the world for poorer countries to deal with.

This begins with increasing and developing our recycling facilities. If we cannot recycle it, we shouldn’t be using it. 

In the article, Wera also discusses the Plastic Pollution Bill, presented to Parliament in February by Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael. It sets out to

  • ensure that by 2042 no plastic which is not capable of being recycled is
    produced or used
  • eliminate the use of non-essential plastics by 2025; and
  • progressively reduce plastic pollution.

Just as Lib Dems led on the 5p plastic bag charge, we are leading the fight against plastic pollution and fighting for measures to protect our environment.

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mark Valladares

25 February 2019 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 25th February 2019 - 11:53 pm

Lib Dems produce Bill to properly tackle plastics crisis

Today, Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Environment, will present his Plastic Pollution Bill to Parliament.

The Bill will set targets to help fix our plastics crisis and require the Secretary of State to publish a strategy for the reduction of plastic pollution.

The Bill has been backed by a cross-party group of MPs as well as Friends of the Earth and the Women’s Institute.

Ahead of presenting his Bill, Mr Carmichael said:

Plastic pollution is the scourge of our oceans. The Government must start taking action to reduce our plastic to change our

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , and | 3 Comments
Mark Valladares

18 February 2019 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 18th February 2019 - 11:35 pm

Amidst the conjecture caused by the launch of The Independent Group this morning, it might have been easy to forget that there’s plenty of other stuff going on…

  • Lib Dems: Rail reform proposals signals change needed
  • Govt consultations on plastic must be followed by action
  • On short prison sentences, Tories say one thing and do another
  • Cable: Honda decision another hammer blow to the UK economy
  • Lib Dems will work with like-minded MPs – Cable
  • Statement on the death of Paul Flynn

Lib Dems: Rail reform proposals signals change needed

Responding to the release of the report containing the Rail Delivery Group’s proposals to the Williams Rail Review, …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Tahir Maher

Plastic Pollution

By Tahir Maher | Wed 26th September 2018 - 3:45 pm

Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron said about the “latte levy”:

“We’ve been calling for this for years and the Conservatives have continued to do nothing – each year over 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups are thrown away and I now hope a small levy will finally be introduced to slash this waste.”

There is public support for using tax to reduce waste for single-use plastics. Firms that use unrecyclable plastic should be taxed to drive them to use other forms of packaging. This is part of the government target to abolish all plastic waste by 2042. The proposal is to use the funds raised to research into new recyclable/degradable plastics.

As Tim suggested, we need a tax on coffee cups that are very difficult to recycle. This is to deter the massive waste of plastic use that is having such a detrimental effect on our environment. This call follows the successful introduction of the 5 pence tax on plastic bags, by the Lib Dem, that has dramatically reduced their use.

From 2005 firms have had to buy a packaging recovery note (PRN), those firms who manufacture packing waste, to help offset the cost of dealing with the packaging. The PRN was to drive firms to more greener packaging. We, as a party, should push the government to increase the PRN to drive manufacturers to develop and use recyclable plastics.

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | 5 Comments
Advert



Recent Comments

  • David Raw
    @ Nonconformistradical "As a reasonably comfortably off pensioner I can’t see why I shouldn’t be charged something towards NHS services". But you are b...
  • David Raw
    @ Tristan Ward, "This is a fine speech, marching toward the sound of gunfire". As somebody who was present in the Hall and actually heard Jo Grimond's Gunf...
  • Mark Frankel
    The Brexiters got their way by banging on about Europe. Now it's our turn....
  • Peter Martin
    Having lived in Australia I do have some experience of how their system works. Doctor's appointments are notionally free providing the doctor's practice agr...
  • David Murray
    Donald Trump will not be President in 2030, the end date Ed gives for implementation. So it would only serve as a 'good intention' to restore links with the EU....