Single-use items like plastic cutlery, plates, and polystyrene trays will be banned in England, the Government has confirmed.
It is not clear when the ban will come into effect but England follows prior regulations in Scotland and Wales.
Government figures suggest 1.1 billion single-use plates and more than 4 billion pieces of plastic cutlery are used in England every year.
Whilst this ban is long overdue the Government has been slow to act and needs to go much further to stem the increasing tide of plastic use.
Greenpeace UK described this as:’ We are dealing with a plastic flood, this is like reaching for a mop instead of turning off the tap.’
The Government does need to focus on a meaningful strategy to reduce plastic use, which should issue stringent targets for its reduction, reuse, and refill schemes and the introduction of deposit return schemes. The government has no plastic strategy for England and is making only slow steps to introduce extended producer responsibility, the first stage of this started on 1 Jan 2022.
More details from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64205460