Fashion retailers and manufacturers could be forced to pay a levy on every garment sold under government plans to reduce the 300,000 tonnes of clothing that is incinerated or dumped in landfill sites each year.
The proposal is part of an overhaul of the waste system under consideration by the government and set out in documents for consultation. The plans also include the introduction of a deposit scheme for bottles and cans and free food waste and garden rubbish collections for every home.
Companies that use packaging face a tenfold increase in the annual amount they pay towards the cost of collecting and recycling it, from less than £100 million to up to £1 billion.
The government plans to focus first on making industry take