A ban on a range of polluting single-use plastic items including cutlery, balloon sticks and polystyrene cups is coming into force this weekend.
According to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), people living in England use 2.7 billion single-use plastic cutlery items and 721 million single-use plates every year, with only 10 per cent of them being recycled.
From Sunday, businesses will be banned from using various items in England, while the supply of single-use plastic plates, trays and bowls has also been restricted.
Plastic pollution typically takes hundreds of years to break down, inflicts environmental damage and spreads microplastics, which could be harmful to human health.
“This new ban is the next big step in our mission to crack down on harmful plastic waste. It will protect the environment and help to cut litter – stopping plastic pollution from dirtying our streets and threatening our wildlife,” said environment minister Rebecca Pow.
“This builds on world-leading bans on straws, stirrers and cotton buds, our single-use carrier bag charge and our plastic packaging tax, helping us on our journey to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042.”
The government announced that the ban would come into force nine months ago in order to allow businesses time to prepare and use up excess stock.
The ban will not apply to single-use plastic plates, trays and bowls used in pre-packaged food items as these will be included in future plans for an extended producer responsibility scheme, which will incentivise producers to use less packaging and meet higher recycling targets.
A 5p charge on plastic bags was already introduced in 2015, which saw usage in big supermarkets fall by more than 95 per cent. This was increased to 10p in 2021 and extended to all retailers outside of big supermarkets.
Helen Bird, head of material systems at Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), said: “Single-use plastics dominate our world and have even become embedded into the planet itself. This ban is an important moment in tackling the scourge of plastic pollution.
“Since 2018, WRAP has worked with businesses under The UK Plastics Pact to eliminate all unnecessary and unrecyclable plastic packaging. Since then, 620 million single-use plastic items have been removed from shops. But we must go further, including on plastic packaging on most fruit and vegetables – and help save shoppers money by allowing people to buy what they need.”
The government wants to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste in the UK by 2042 and is next planning to bring in a deposit return scheme for drinks containers. But in May, Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf said the scheme could be scrapped if the government did not U-turn on its decision to exclude glass from the plans.
Earlier this year, a survey of Britain’s coastline revealed that concentrations of microplastics are up to 100 times worse than previously recorded just six years prior.
