UK plastic ban: packaging must be next in sight for legislation, say campaigners

Campaigners have welcomed the announcement that the UK is set to ban the sale of plastic straws, drinks stirrers and cotton buds, while calling for more action to deal with all forms of “problem plastic”.

Environment secretary Michael Gove has highlighted the urgency of tackling single-use items with the potential to pollute waterways and oceans.

But after implementing these measures, environmental groups have urged government and businesses to go beyond tackling these “low hanging fruit”.

Specifically, they have emphasised the need for a radical re-think on plastic packaging.

“If you look at what the UK has done as a package of measures, we are very much at the forefront and showing global leadership,” WWF spokesperson Nicole Itano told The Independent.

“But I think the next stage – and this is slightly unchartered territory – is how do we then start to tackle the harder things like packaging. We would like to see the UK go even further, and we think ultimately we should be moving towards a ban on all single-use plastic by 2025.”

Such a ban would not mean no plastic would be used whatsoever, but all plastics would be part of a circular economy in which everything is recycled.

A similar call is coming from Greenpeace, which is pushing for a ban on non-recyclable “problem plastic” in all its forms “at the earliest opportunity”.

“What we are calling for is basically a dramatic reduction in the overall use of single-use plastic, and within that there are some relatively low hanging fruit items like stirrers and straws,” Louise Edge, senior oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, told The Independent. “We would be looking at extending that list of unnecessary items.

Besides targeting specific plastic items like straws for outright bans, Greenpeace is calling for the elimination of all non-recyclable plastic within the next year.

As it stands, many items of plastic packaging are either non-recyclable, or marked as recyclable despite the lack of infrastructure in place to deal with them properly. Items made of PVC or polystyrene are particularly problematic.

Examples of unrecyclable products that frequently appear in supermarket trollies, according to Ms Edge, include yoghurt pots, ready-meal trays and salad bags.

Environmental groups have emphasised the need for legislation to be accompanied by a search for materials that can be used to replace non-recyclable plastics.

The government has recently committed to funding research and innovation in this area, with over £60m set aside to deal with plastic waste.

Of this, £16m will be spent specifically on improving waste management.

The announcement of the intended ban, which will be subject to a consultation starting later this year, came at the start of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, emphasising the global nature of the fight against plastic.

“The reality is that if we want to solve this problem we have top solve it on a global scale,” said Ms Itano.

“If we completely tackled our plastic problem here in the UK, which we hope we will get to in the near future, that doesn’t save our oceans if India and China and America continue to pour plastic waste into the environment and our oceans.”