Single-use plastics will be banned across England following a consultation from the government.
The ban will affect all hospitality/foodservice operators, retailers, takeaways and food vendors, and will include single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers.
Government research has shown that England uses 2.7bn items of single-use cutlery, only 10% of which is recycled. In 2020, plastic cutlery was in the top 15 most littered items in the country by count. The ban is said to have been supported by over 95% of those who responded to the consultation. WRAP, too adds its support.
Richard Swannell, Interim CEO of WRAP, says: “WRAP is working with UK businesses to meet ambitious targets in this important area, and our latest results show an 84% reduction in problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics by our UK Plastics Pact members since 2018.
“We’re delighted to see these efforts being backed up by regulation, which will accelerate efforts to keep plastic out of the environment.”
Organisations will have time to prepare, with the ban scheduled for October 2023. Catering teams at many NHS Trusts have already started to seek alternatives to single-use plastics across their operations, as part of green plans and net zero targets.
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 the government’s plans for an Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme – which will incentivise producers to use packaging that can be recycled and meet higher recycling targets. This would include pre-packaged salad bowls and bowls filled with food at the counter of a takeaway.
“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,” says Thérèse Coffey, Environment Secretary.
Further tough measures will be introduced through the Environment Act to tackle plastic pollution and litter. This will include a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers to recycle billions more plastic bottles, via a small deposit on drinks products to incentivise people to recycle.
