A range of polluting single use plastics will be banned in England, Thérèse Coffey, environment secretary announced.
The ban will include single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks, and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers.
According to estimates, England uses 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery – most of which are plastic – and 721 million single-use plates per year, but only 10 percent are recycled.
Effective October 1, people won’t be able to buy these products from any business – this includes retailers, takeaways, food vendors and the hospitality industry.
Plastic pollution takes hundreds of years to break down and inflicts serious damage to our oceans, rivers and land. It is also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, from the production and manufacture of the plastic itself to the way it is disposed.
“We all know the absolutely devastating impacts that plastic can have on our environment and wildlife. We have listened to the public and these new single-use plastics bans will continue our vital work to protect the environment for future generations. I am proud of our efforts in this area: we have banned microbeads, restricted the use of straws, stirrers and cotton buds and our carrier bag charge has successfully cut sales by over 97 percent in the main supermarkets”, said Coffey:
The Government is also carefully considering further measures around other commonly littered and problematic plastic items, including wet wipes, tobacco filters and sachets, following the call for evidence on this issue.
Future steps that could be explored include banning plastic in these items, and mandatory labeling on packaging to help consumers dispose of these items correctly. A new research project will also look into the impact of wet wipes on blockages in the sewage system, and will inform any future policy actions.
The ban will not apply to plates, trays, and bowls that are used as packaging in shelf-ready pre-packaged food items, as these will be included in our plans for an extended producer responsibility scheme – which will incentivize producers to use packaging that can be recycled and meet higher recycling targets. For example, this would include pre-packaged salad bowls and bowls filled with food at the counter of a takeaway.
Through the Environment Act, the Government is bringing in further measures to tackle plastic pollution and litter. This includes a deposit return scheme for drinks containers to recycle billions more plastic bottles and stop them being landfilled, incinerated, or littered via a small deposit on drinks products to incentivize people to recycle, and plans for consistent recycling collections for every household and business in England.