What are you doing to make London a single-use plastic-free city?

In my first term as Mayor, I launched my Refill London initiative and formed partnerships with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Thames Water to install a network of drinking fountains across London. This has led to there being over 4,000 refill locations across the capital - up from 200 when the programme started in March 2018 - and the installation of 82 drinking fountains, all helping to avoid the use of single-use plastics. Before the pandemic, the first 28 fountains installed with the ZSL helped avoid more than 733,000 half-litre plastic bottles in two years. Unfortunately, the fountains had to be temporarily closed due to the pandemic but I plan to reopen them on 19 July in line with the easing of lockdown restrictions and we will recommence installations of new fountains in the autumn.

Following my re-election, I have renewed the commitment made in my London Environment Strategy to reduce single-use plastics to help London become a zero-waste city. A major cornerstone of my plan for London’s recovery from the pandemic is my Green New Deal, which seeks to create green jobs for the future while greening our economy. Through the Green New Deal, we are prioritising single-use plastic reduction. This includes our Better Futures programme, which supports numerous small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who offer Londoners products to replace single-use plastics.

It also includes our Future Neighbourhoods 2030 programme, which will support boroughs and local communities with up to £7.5 million of funding to drive action across five key sectors, including the creation of a zero-waste circular economy. There is encouraging action on single-use plastics, including the development of innovative ways to reduce consumption and waste in local areas.

In May [2021] through ReLondon I supported the publication of a report on reducing single-use plastic consumption, which identifies a series of actions to accelerate efforts in London, including raising awareness of the issues to inform and inspire Londoners.

Most recently, I have responded to government consultations on extended producer responsibility and deposit return schemes urging the widest possible inclusion of containers and materials to maximise their impact.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Also, from my family to yours, Eid Mubarak for next week. I really appreciate the work that you have already done on water fountains and the challenges that you face because of the pandemic, but we all can do so much more. London could and should be leading the way to eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic. Cities like New Delhi and Paris are way ahead of us. The River Thames is shockingly one of the most plastics-polluted rivers in the world. Our ambition must be no less than a plastic-free city. Even on the water fountain front, we can do some more and make some more progress, especially in places that the Mayor of London has direct control. For example, what proportion of Tube stations still do not have water fountains?

The issue with the water fountains across London is the supply to the water fountains. What we are doing is making sure we can work with Thames Water to get the supply to the various places we want the water fountains.

In relation to the Tube stations, the issue is the potential slippage with water going elsewhere in relation to customers using the station escalators going down to the platform. I am more than happy, Chair, to send the Member a list of the stations where we are planning to have fountains. The issue is which stations have water near to an entrance or an exit to a station, but I can supply the list offline.

I am looking forward to that report. Thank you. And despite the slippage reasons, I am sure that there could be some sort of work we could look into. I would happily work with you on that.

I understand that also, as you mentioned, we do need the Government’s support for some actions, but I am concerned that the Government’s plans for a deposit return scheme for single-use plastics continues to be delayed. As the Mayor of London, you do not have to wait for national action on this. We could do this. You could introduce a pilot here in London.

Given the lack of the Government action, will you introduce a deposit return scheme for single-use plastic bottles for London?

We looked into this in the last mayoral term. I am sorry you were not here then. I am pleased you are now.

Sadly, I was not, no.

We looked at the pros and cons of doing so. There are all sorts of challenges. We looked at Scotland, where they have done some work in relation to this, which was encouraging.

We will wait and see the response to the lobbying of the Government. If the Government were to bring in a national scheme, that would be really ground-breaking. If the Government decides not to, we will go back to the work we did in relation to going it alone, but there are challenges. I am not going to pretend there are not challenges, but we did look into this work, learning the lessons from Scotland. Let us wait and see what the Government does.

I am hopeful, actually. I had a meeting recently with the Secretary for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Particularly because COP26 is in Glasgow, that has re-energised the Government in relation to some of the stuff it wants to do. There is cross-party agreement as well, which is encouraging. I had a meeting this week with the Mayor of West Midlands as well.

Let us wait and see what the Government does. If the Government is not positive, I am more than happy to speak to colleagues across the Assembly. This is an issue everyone will agree on.

Great. I am totally up for a cross-party approach on this. Another thing that you certainly could do, something that we are all trying to do, is to eliminate the use of plastic bottles in any part of the Greater London Authority (GLA) group, as recommended by the London Assembly Environment Committee in 2017. You can also make sure that single-use plastic bottles are not used in events, for example, that the GLA sponsors or supports. I am aware that plastic cutlery is no longer used in City Hall, which is great, but there are still plastic bottles in use in other places in the GLA group. I am interested to know what your thoughts are on that and, if so, when will these be removed?

Which ones do you mean?

Let us say, for example, Transport for London (TfL) or the police. Are there other areas in the GLA where we can maybe introduce a plastic-free approach?

Yes, we are leading by example. City Hall and all of the GLA family understand the importance of this agenda. I recently addressed the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) senior leaders. They all get the agenda in relation to zero carbon, but also concerns around air quality, waste and other issues. If there are examples that the Member is aware of where the GLA family is not following best practice, let me know and we will follow that up.

Thank you very much for your time.