Far-reaching ban on single-use plastics in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The ban will include single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks, and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers. This ban will be introduced from October 2023, allowing businesses time to prepare.
According to estimates, England uses 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery — most of which are plastic — and 721 million single-use plates per year, but only 10% are recycled. If 2.7 billion pieces of cutlery were lined up they would go round the world over eight and a half times (based on a 15cm piece of cutlery).
From October, people won’t be able to buy these products from any business - this includes retailers, takeaways, food vendors and the hospitality industry. Over 95% of those who responded to our consultation were in favour of the bans, the Government’s response, published today (Saturday 14 January 2022), reveals.
Plastic pollution takes hundreds of years to break down and inflicts serious damage to our oceans, rivers and land. It is also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, from the production and manufacture of the plastic itself to the way it is disposed.