Mail Online

BORIS RUBBISHES RECYCLING

He tells children it ‘doesn’t work’ as a green solution – to the fury of industry

Claire Ellicott Political Correspondent

BORIs Johnson has been accused of ‘losing the plastic plot’ after he told schoolchildren that recycling does not work.

he said it was a ‘red herring’ and would not address the climate crisis.

Mr Johnson’s spokesman later had to encourage the public to continue recycling after the comments were slammed by industry figures.

speaking at a Downing street children’s climate conference yesterday ahead of the Cop26 summit, Mr Johnson said ‘recycling isn’t the answer’ and stressed the need to reduce the amount of plastic that is used.

‘It doesn’t begin to address the problem, you can only recycle plastic a couple of times, really,’ he said. ‘What you’ve got to do is stop the production of plastic.’

The PM then named and shamed Coca-Cola as one of 12 corporations ‘producing the overwhelming bulk of the world’s plastics’, adding: ‘The recycling thing is a red herring.’ Appearing alongside Mr Johnson, the head of the charity WWF UK, Tanya steele, said: ‘We have to reduce, we have to reuse – I do think we need to do a little bit of recycling, PM, and have some system to do so.’ Mr Johnson replied: ‘It doesn’t work.’

Industry bodies said that his remarks were ‘very disappointing’. simon ellin, head of the Recycling Association trade body for independent waste paper processors and their equipment suppliers, was shocked at the statements.

‘“Wow”, I think is the first answer,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme. ‘It’s very disappointing. I think he has completely lost the plastic plot here, if I’m honest.

‘We need to reduce and I would completely agree with him on that, but his own Government has just invested in the resources and waste strategy, which is the most ground-breaking recycling legislation and plan that we’ve ever seen, with recycling right at the front of it.

‘so he seems to be completely conflicting with his own Government’s policy.’

The PM’s official spokesman later said that Mr Johnson continues to encourage people to recycle. ‘Yes, the Prime Minister was setting out that recycling alone is not the answer,’ the spokesman said.

‘We’re taking a wide range of action across society to cut plastic pollution. simply relying on recycling alone, as the Prime Minister set out, would be a red herring – we need to go further and take wider action.’

Mr Johnson also said he does not ‘want to support new coal mines’, as ministers face pressure to prevent a new site in Cumbria. he told the pupils aged eight to 12: ‘What we want to do is to continue our progress to a zero-carbon future.’

After Miss steele said that humans and domestic animals make up 97 per cent of the mass of mammals on the planet, while wild animals account for 3 per cent, the Prime Minister said: ‘We could feed some of the human beings to the animals.’

Miss steele replied: ‘We could have a vote later and ask if there’s any candidates.’

A spokesman for The CocaCola Company said: ‘The world has a packaging problem. As the world’s biggest beverage company, we have a responsibility to help solve it.

‘In Great Britain, all our packaging is 100 per cent recyclable, and all our packs that are 500ml or smaller are made from 100 per cent recycled plastic.’

The Daily Mail has campaigned to ‘Turn the Tide’ on plastic waste and has led litter picks to clean up our rivers and seas.

‘You’ve got to stop production’

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

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