Parliamentary Report on Microplastics
“Take a deep breath. You have just inhaled two to eight microplastic particles”.
That is how the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) opens its new report on Microplastics. Microplastic pollution puts agricultural soil, food security, and human health at risk. The report finds that the UK still has no cohesive national strategy, no legally binding reduction targets, and no regulatory limits on the primary pathways through which microplastics enter our environment.
Here is how it happens: wastewater treatment plants do a good job of filtering microplastics out of sewage, but that plastic does not just disappear. It ends up concentrated in the leftover sludge, which then gets spread on farmland as fertiliser. In other words, we have built an elaborate system for capturing microplastics out of our water, only to tip them straight back onto the fields that grow our food.
But soil is not just dirt – it is a living ecosystem, packed with microbes that keep it fertile. Microplastics throw that ecosystem off balance, make the soil worse at holding water, and slowly chip away at its ability to grow the food the UK relies on.
The report, backed by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and the Global Plastics Policy Centre at the University of Portsmouth, is blunt about what happens if nothing changes: the environmental bill will impact our economy. Whether it is money spent on waste management, environmental clean-ups, struggling fisheries and agriculture, or the NHS, the economy is going to face the first hit.
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It is also not only an economic problem. Microplastics act like tiny sponges for other harmful chemicals, soaking them up and carrying them along for the ride. Once they are in the food chain, they can build up in livestock, and in us, meaning the true cost to our health may turn out to be far higher than anyone’s currently accounting for.
The report sets out a five-year roadmap for government action:
A National Framework — a centralised policy with legally binding microplastic reduction targets.
Upstream Intervention — stricter design standards to stop leakage at the source, including mandatory microfibre filters on new washing machines.
Extended Producer Responsibility — holding manufacturers accountable for the full lifecycle and plastic footprint of their products.
Environmental Safeguards — stronger technological and regulatory protection for wastewater, sludge, and agricultural soils.
Robust Monitoring — a funded, coordinated national network to track pollution levels and inform science-based policy.
The message from Westminster is clear – 34 MPs, six parties, all agree on one thing: voluntary measures and fragmented policies are failing. Protecting our soil, our food, and our health requires immediate, statutory and systemic intervention to stop microplastics.
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For more information contact: info@scarabtrust.org.uk
Images:
tractor spreading water fertilizer ditch field - Image by corlaffra (ST ref: 1134)
Bank of England - Photo by Xiaolin Zhang on Unsplash (ST ref: 1412)
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