AQW 10635/17-22

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 19/11/2020
Answered On Date: 27/11/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of supporting producers of plastic-free sanitary products to reduce their environmental impact.

Answer:

Plastic and single-use sanitary products cover a wide range of uses, from items used to support the healthcare sector, particularly in care or hospital settings, to feminine hygiene products and baby wipes, as well as many other items. We therefore must be careful not to demonise all plastics. These items make a great contribution to health and wellbeing in Northern Ireland.

However, I recognise the impact that sanitary products containing plastics are having on our environment and in particular our marine environment. Sanitary products that have been incorrectly disposed of are one of the most commonly found items polluting our oceans and beaches.

My Department spends a significant amount of resource annually on raising awareness and changing behaviours around single use plastics. This includes promoting the use of plastic free alternatives or reusables, where it is possible.

I do have some concerns about some of the alternatives to plastics, which are purported to be less harmful to the environment than plastic for example, cotton which can often be used as an alternative material in sanitary products requires vast amounts of water and intensive farming to produce even small amounts of material. Another example is “eco-friendly” wet wipes, which although described as flushable, compostable or biodegradable, in reality these processes do not happen quickly enough to prevent them becoming a menace in our drains and waterways. Once the alternative product has reached the end of its useful life, options for reuse, particularly in sanitary products, would be limited and the infrastructure for textiles recycling in the UK is not yet capable of handling this type of resource. Many of these items could end up in energy from waste facilities or landfill sites.

It is with this in mind that I have instructed my officials to begin work on life cycle analyses for alternatives to plastic, to ensure that we are making the right decisions and promoting alternatives that are truly sustainable and environmentally friendly in the long term. Until these analyses have been completed, no assessment of the merits of supporting producers of plastic-free sanitary products can be made.