Firms who package goods in unrecyclable plastic will be hit with massive costs under plans to drive its use “out of existence”, The Independent can reveal.

Whitehall insiders believe the proposal – effectively a tax on non-reusable plastic – will have a greater impact on the government’s drive to abolish all plastic waste by 2042 than any other measure.

A source close to the proposal told The Independent it would make the cost of using unrecyclable plastics “so exorbitantly high” that companies would simply conclude they are no longer worth it.

At the same time the measure will create a lucrative funding stream to pump into new UK recycling capacity for plastics that can be reused.

It follows a string of announcements from environment secretary Michael Gove as he stakes out green issues as Conservative political territory, with campaigners encouraged to push for progress in other areas too.

The Independent is campaigning for a 25p “latte levy” on disposable coffee cups, for example, which are almost impossible to recycle effectively.

But officials believe the real route to radical change on plastics is the new-look scheme now being devised at Mr Gove’s department.

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Since 2005, firms creating packaging waste are obliged to buy a “packaging recovery note”, or PRN, to offset the cost of dealing with it, with the charge acting as a small incentive to use greener packaging and money raised helping to fund recycling.

But government insiders now want to supercharge the system, with manufactures who use unrecyclable plastic forced to purchase PRNs that cost extreme amounts.

A government source said: “The fact that there are a lot of poor-quality plastics out there is an issue – these are single-use items, not good enough quality to recycle.

“So the question is, how do you change that to move towards people using better-quality plastics, that you can reuse?

“A key way would be to make the cost of non-recyclable plastic – via PRNs – so exorbitantly high that it effectively drives it out of existence – it would mean that with the cost of it, it would not be worth using.”

An example of products that could be subject to the higher PRN cost are food goods such as bacon or cold meats, or anything that comes in very thin plastic packaging.

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The change is being driven by the burgeoning use of unrecyclable plastic since China banned imports of plastic waste, leading to a desperate need for new UK recycling capacity.

Beijing had imported some 7.3 million tonnes of plastic waste a year from developed countries including the UK. Its closure as a destination has seen waste piling up at British plants.

The Independent’s source explained: “If you increase the cost of PRN, then you also have more money for recycling capacity, and you can use that as a way of growing the recycling industry of the UK.

“That is essentially the big area of change in terms of plastic – it is these things that will have some of the greatest impact on improving the issues around plastics.

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A father and son on a makeshift boat made from styrofoam paddle through a garbage filled river as they collect plastic bottles that they can sell in junkshops in Manila. The father and son team earn some three US dollars a day retrieving recyclables from the river. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A composite image of items found on the shore of the Thames Estuary in Rainham, Kent. Tons of plastic and other waste lines areas along the Thames Estuary shoreline, an important feeding ground for wading birds and other marine wildlife. Getty Images Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children collect plastic water bottles among the garbage washed ashore at the Manila Bay. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, at current rates of pollution, there will likely be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastics and other detritus line the shore of the Thames Estuary. In December 2017 Britain joined the other 193 UN countries and signed up to a resolution to help eliminate marine litter and microplastics in the sea. It is estimated that about eight million metric tons of plastic find their way into the world's oceans every year. Once in the Ocean plastic can take hundreds of years to degrade, all the while breaking down into smaller and smaller 'microplastics,' which can be consumed by marine animals, and find their way into the human food chain. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A dump site in Manila in 2013. The Philippines financial capital banned disposable plastic shopping bags and styrofoam food containers, as part of escalating efforts across the nation's capital to curb rubbish that exacerbates deadly flooding. AFP/Getty Images Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children swims in the sea full of garbage in North Jakarta, Indonesia. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures An Indian woman holds a jar filled with Yamuna river water polluted with froth and toxic foam to be used for rituals at the river bank in New Delhi, India. The Yamuna River, like all other holy rivers in India, has been massively polluted for decades now. The river that originates in a glacier in the pristine and unpolluted Himalayas, and flows through Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh before merging with the Ganges River in Allahabad, once used to be the lifeline of the Indian capital. Currently, it is no more than a large, open sewer that is choking with industrial and domestic discharge that includes plastic, flowers and debris and has virtually no aquatic life. EPA Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastic waste is washed up on South Troon beach in Scotland. Recent reports by scientists have confirmed, plastics dumped in the world oceans are reaching a dangerous level with micro plastic particles now being found inside filter feeding animals and amongst sand grains on our beaches. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children collect plastic to be sold and recycled, in a polluted river in suburban Manila. The city's trash disposal agency traps solid waste floating down waterways that was thrown into the water by residents of slums along riverbanks upstream. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures View of the Carpayo Beach in La Punta, Callao, some 15 km of Lima. In 2013, the NGO VIDA labeled the Carpayo Beach as the most polluted in the country - 40 tons of trash on each 500m2. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Trash from Kamilo Beach in Hawaii. Gabriella Levine/Flickr Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A scavenger collects plastic cups for recycling in a river covered with rubbish near Pluit dam in Jakarta. Reuters Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Rubbish fills Omoa beach in Honduras. Floating masses of garbage offshore from some of the Caribbean's pristine beaches are testimony to a vast and growing problem of plastic pollution heedlessly dumped in our oceans, locals, activists and experts say. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A man climbs down to a garbage filled river in Manila. Plastic rubbish will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to recycle the material, a report warned in 2016. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Garbage on East Beach, Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands), in the south Pacific Ocean. The uninhabited island has been found to have the world's highest density of waste plastic, with more than 3,500 additional pieces of litter washing ashore daily at just one of its beaches. EPA

“They are not easily explainable, or sexy in a news sense like the deposit return scheme on plastic drinks containers, but they will have a big impact.”

Ministers want the plan to be ready by the end of the year when the government is due to publish its new waste and resources strategy.

Mr Gove has previously said that the success of the charge on plastic bags has showed people are willing to take a financial hit as long as the policy behind it works for the environment.

At the time the government had just published its 25-year plan on environmental policy, which included consulting on whether further taxes and charges could be used to curb the use of plastics.

But the new drive to use PRNs to wipe out the use of non-recyclable plastics is bound to face pushback from some industrial sectors, while there are also political dangers given the cost of the new system could potentially be passed on to consumers.

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The Independent’s source said: “If you speak to companies, people are moving in this direction anyway. The general trend of big business is towards better packaging, recyclable packing.

“People know their consumers are concerned about it. So, there might be some issues with some businesses, but broadly speaking those in the packaging business are feeling they have to be more green and environmentally friendly.”

Meanwhile, those backing the plan within the Conservative Party believe political risks can be mitigated as long as the purpose of the new system is properly understood by the public and business world.

In 2012 then-chancellor George Osborne was lambasted after a plan to simplify the VAT on hot takeaway food led to the furore over the “pasty tax”, and the unravelling of his budget.

But the source said: “You can get into difficulty when there is a lack of clarity about why the government is really doing something, but no one will know many people who don’t think that there is a problem with plastics.