Bans and restrictions on a range of polluting single-use plastic items came into force on Sunday 1 October. Single-use plastic cutlery, balloon sticks and polystyrene cups and food containers can now no longer be sold in England, and the supply of single-use plastic plates, trays and bowls has also been restricted.
There has been widespread national coverage of the restrictions, including on the Today Programme, Good Morning Britain, BBC Online, Sky News, ITV News, the Telegraph, I News, the Independent, the Daily Mail, and the Mirror, as well as in trade and regional media.
Research shows people across England use 2.7 billion items of mostly plastic single-use cutlery and 721 million single-use plates every year, but only 10% of these are recycled. If 2.7 billion pieces of cutlery were lined up, they would go round the world more than eight-and-a-half times.
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said:
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 dirtying our streets and threatening our wildlife.
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 single-use plastics ban is part of the Government’s wider world-leading action to tackle the scourge of plastic pollution and eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. The Government has already banned microbeads in rinse-off personal care products in 2018 and restricted the supply of plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds in 2020.
The Government also introduced the Plastic Packaging Tax in April 2022, a tax of more than £200 per tonne on plastic packaging manufactured in or imported to the UK that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic.
Elsewhere, the Government’s hugely successful single-use carrier bag charge has cut sales in the main supermarkets by more than 98% since its introduction in 2015, taking billions of bags out of circulation.
4 comments
Comment by Joe posted on
Still too little. How did plastic cups not end up on this list? Vegetable based alternatives are already a well established option.
Comment by Tracy Wagstaff posted on
Friar tucks takeaway-cleethorpes 3/10/23
I would like to report this takeaway is still using plastic cutlery, polystyrene cups/trays.
Disgusting behaviour as these were banned on Sunday (1/10/23) I thought we were saving the planet.
Comment by Terry Drake posted on
Perhaps they are using up old stock rather than throwing it in the bin
Comment by Naomi Fasce posted on
Maybe they were using the stock that they already had! Don't be so disrespectful when they were allowed to buy them and maybe ordered in bulk ! This is why so many small businesses are going under , including mine from people like you who have probably NEVER run a small business! Get off your high horse , and if your that concerned, then why don't you go in and ask how many they've got to use up, ask how much they paid for them and YOU PAY FOR THEM , so they can put that money towards some new ones that comply with regulations