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Single-use plastic plates and cutlery and polystyrene cups are set to be banned

The Government has launched a consultation with a view to banning these items from April 2023

Single-use plastic plates, cutlery and polystyrene cups are set to be banned in England from April 2023, with the Government launching a 12-week public consultation on prohibiting their use.

The Government is also looking into ways of limiting other polluting products such as wet wipes that contain plastic, tobacco filters, sauce sachets and single-use cups.

Possible policy options to do this include banning plastic in such items and introducing mandatory labelling on packaging to help consumers dispose of them correctly.

“There is growing recognition of the damage that plastics cause to our environment and marine life in particular. We want to reduce the use of plastics in packaging and ban its use in items linked to littering,” said Environment Secretary George Eustice.

Marcus Gover, chief executive of sustainable resource use charity Wrap, said: “We welcome the consultation to expand the range of single-use plastic items to be banned in England.

“Eliminating problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic is essential if we are to turn the tide on plastic pollution and keep plastic out of the environment.”

Steve Hynd, of the Bristol-based environmental charity City to Sea, said: “This announcement is hugely welcome. Almost 100,000 people signed our petition earlier this year calling on the Government to take urgent action and we’re pleased to see the public’s concerns being taken seriously. There is a long journey ahead in tackling plastic pollution, but this is a positive and important first step.”

The consultation comes a week after the passage of the Environment Act which will enable tougher action on single-use plastics in England.

The Act includes powers to place charges on single-use items, and the investigation into singe use cups and sachets will explore whether such a charge could be placed on them to encourage a shift away from throwaway culture.

The proposals follow a ban of microbeads in rinse-off personal care products, reducing the number of plastic bags being used and restricting the supply of single-use plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds.

Although the result of the Government consultation is not a foregone conclusion, the Government is committed to introducing the bans it has proposed – and most, if not all, of the proposals in these kind of consultations typically end up being implemented.

Scientists and campaigners broadly welcome the proposals although some said the measures didn’t go far or fast enough.

Nina Schrank, senior plastics campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “We all know we need to move away from our throwaway culture. However, these proposed measures are long overdue and will now be subject to a lengthy consultation process.”

“Every week of delay means thousands of tonnes of additional plastic waste will end up harming nature. Our neighbours in the EU have banned most of these items already, so why are we wasting our time?” she said.

Eulyn Pagaling, of the James Hutton Institute in Scotland, added: “Banning single-use plastics is a step in the right direction to reduce plastic pollution, but it is important for consumers to have alternative sustainable solutions that still function in the same way as plastic would have done.”

Separately to the consultation the Government is working to ensure every council in England provides a separate weekly food waste collection for their residents and be made to recycle all single-use tubs, trays and pots.

At the moment about half of England’s councils provide some kind of food collection service.

Items facing a ban or significant limitation on their use:

Plastic plates: The average person gets through 20 single-use plastic plates a year, making a total of 1.1 billion items across England. But only a tenth of these are recycled after they are thrown away.

Plastic cutlery: England gets through 4.25 billion knives, forks and other kinds of throwaway plastic cutlery a year – which equates to 75 items a person.

Polystyrene: Although nowhere near as widespread as in days of old, polystyrene cups are still a regular feature of cafes and canteens around the country. In some ways it is not as harmful as other types of plastic because it’s robust so it can be reused and recycled more easily than many plastics.

Wet wipes: More than 90 per cent of the 11billion wet wipes used in the UK each year contain plastic, according to MPs. When flushed, wet wipes containing plastic create fatbergs that clog up sewers, pollute rivers and create litter that causes devastation to wildlife.

Coffee cups: The UK uses 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups per year and these are particularly difficult to recycle because it is hard to separate the plastic and paper layers – meaning only a tiny are recycled and the rest go into landfill or blow into the river and on into the sea.

Plastic sachets: Sachets of ketchup, brown source and a host of other staples are also rarely recycled due to their small size, which makes it hard to segregate and clean them.


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