The Plan for Water outlined our position that we will expect industry to develop low cost, effective microfibre filters on washing machine and encourage their effective use. With the plan being published only just last month, we are now considering the best actions for its implementation. As a first step, we will look to manufacturers to reduce costs and to provide appropriate evidence of the value of microfibre filters to persuade consumers to invest in them and use them correctly.

Defra funds Textiles 2030, a voluntary initiative with over 110 signatories from the fashion manufacturing industry covering 62% by sales of the UK clothing market. Signatories are committed to circular economy principles such as agreeing good design principles so that their products are durable and recyclable.

Our landmark Environment Act 2021 also provides general powers on design standards and requiring information on the resource efficiency of products. We are, therefore, exploring the best mix of policy measures to tackle the environmental impact of textiles.

Defra supports a range of research including the UK Water Industry Research project (performed by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) which reported in April 2022 that wastewater treatment plants remove 99% of microplastics by number and 99.5% by mass. The Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) includes over £7.39 million of commitment from the water industry to further research microplastics removal through wastewater treatment processes to sludge, which may be a source of microplastics to final effluent discharges.

Technical experts from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) have been leading the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment to develop a new indicator for microlitter (including microplastics) in seafloor sediments. This will help us to track progress in reducing plastics in the environment at a regional scale.

The Government recognises the environmental impact of the textiles industry, which is why we identified textiles as a priority waste stream in our 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy for England

In 2021 Defra funded WRAP's Textiles 2030 programme, a voluntary business initiative with ambitious carbon and water targets. Signatories represent over 62% of clothing put on the UK market

We published our response to the consultation on EPR in March 2022. We have no intention at present to extend EPR to textiles

We are considering the merits of an EPR scheme within a policy framework while we assess options to reduce waste and the environmental impact of textiles.

The Government’s Resources & Waste Strategy identified textiles as one of five priority sectors for consideration of an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme. Our draft Waste Prevention Programme, recently consulted on, affirms this commitment and sets out our consultation approach.

We have commenced the process of developing options, with EPR at the core but also including complementary policies. We will consult with stakeholders on policy options by the end of 2022.

As part of this policy development, we will consider the fee levels required to drive industry change and support real reprocessing costs. We will take on board the experience in France, which has faced challenges in doing so.