Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, has appointed Sandy Martin, MP for Ipswich, as Shadow Minister for Waste and Recycling.

The role will be the first ever ministerial or shadow position covering both waste and recycling and with a dedicated focus on the world’s plastics crisis. It comes in the same week that humans have been found to be eating plastic particles.

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“We must urgently tackle the plastics crisis which is choking our oceans and damaging people’s health.

“As a measure of how seriously we are taking this issue, I’m pleased to appoint Sandy Martin as our new Shadow Minister for Waste and Recycling.”

Sandy Martin MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Waste and Recyling, said:

“There is an urgent need to move beyond the piecemeal, ‘campaign of the month’ approach from the Government on plastics and work towards a whole-systems approach to reform our entire waste and recycling infrastructure.

“Dumping waste abroad where much of it ends up in the ocean is not a sustainable solution. I look forward to working with Jeremy Corbyn and the DEFRA team to bring forward policies for meaningful, systemic change on plastics, waste and recycling and to hold the Government to account on their haphazard and short-termist approach.”