British Plastics Federation lobbied ministers to water down tax plan – UK

Posted on May 29, 2019 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting Regulations

Exclusive: industry figures met Treasury staff to persuade them to scrap or delay policy

Source: British Plastics Federation lobbied ministers to water down tax plan

The trade body for the plastics industry has held last-minute meetings with government officials as part of a lobbying effort to water down a tax on single-use plastics, internal documents have revealed.

Members of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) met Treasury staff this week, the documents state, in their fight to persuade the government to row back on a key aspect of the policy to tackle plastic pollution.

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, announced a tax on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content from 2022 as a key strategy in the budget, with the aim of making the UK “a world leader in tackling the scourge of plastic littering our planet and our oceans”.

It is appalling that industry would be so greedy as to try to cut back some very necessary regulations to save our oceans and what that represents to our lives and economies.