September 29, 2023
From 1 October 2023 businesses must no longer supply, sell or offer a range of single-use plastic items in England New bans and restrictions on a range of polluting single-use plastic items are to come into force this weekend in a bid to cut littering, drive up the reuse of materials, and contribute to worldwide efforts to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed this morning that some of the most polluting single-use plastic items are to be banned from 1 October. The new rules mean that from this weekend no business - whether retailer, takeaway outlet, food vendor, or hospitality provider - will be able to sell any single-use plastic cutlery, balloon sticks, polystyrene cups or food containers in England. The supply of single-use plastic plates, trays, and bowls have also been restricted under the new rules. The new regulations were announced in January and Defra said "extensive work" has since taken place to provide further guidance on the ban for businesses. Defra said the move was necessary given plastic pollution takes "hundreds of years" to break down and inflicts serious damage on ocean, rivers, and land, as well as being a major source of greenhouse gas emissions from its production and manufacturing. According to government research, people across England use 2.7 billion items of mostly single-use cutlery and 721 million single-use plates every year, but only 10 per cent of these are recycled. Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said the new ban was the "next big step" in the government's mission to crack down on harmful plastic waste. "It will protect the environment and help to cut litter - stopping plastic pollution dirtying our streets and threatening our wildlife," she added. "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 said it has been engaging closely with the industry to help ensure businesses are ready for the ban, including by giving nine months notice from the publication of its response to the consultation on the proposed ban so as to allow them to use up excess stock. In addition, the government said it has been working closely with the relevant trade bodies and local authorities to help local businesses and Trading Standards officers to be ready to enforce the rules. The government added that responses from the public to the original consultation on the ban received "overwhelming support", with 95 per cent of respondents stating they were in favour of all proposed prohibitions. Defra clarified that the ban at present will not apply to single-use plastic plates, trays, and bowls which are used as packaging in shelf-ready pre-packaged food items, adding that these will be included in its plans for an extended producer responsibility scheme, which will see producers have to pay to help cover the cost of recycling products. Kate Nicholls, chief executive at UKHospitality, welcomed the news of the ban, adding: "Hospitality businesses have made huge strides in reducing their plastic usage and that progress has resulted in the vast majority of venues already eliminating single-use cutlery from their operations, a crucial part of our ambitions to reach net zero." Helen Bird, head of material systems at recycling charity 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 said the new single-use plastics ban is part of its wider action to tackle plastic pollution and eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. It previously banned microbeads in rinse-off personal care products in 2018 and restricted the supply of plastic straws, stirrers, and cotton buds in 2020. However, the government angered environmental campaigners when it recently announced a delay to the extension of its Extended Producer Responsibility scheme by a year to October 2025, arguing that businesses were not sufficiently ready for the new rules.