Britain’s Department of Environment and Agriculture has announced that London will ban single-use plastic cutlery in England from October 2023 to protect oceans from plastic pollution. It will also ban plastic plates, cutlery, bowls, trays and certain types of single-use polystyrene cups or containers, especially from distributors, restaurants, hotels and food stalls.
These measures were taken after a public consultation showed that there was strong support for removing these disposable items from the market, reports Al-Rai daily.
According to the British Ministry, England uses 2.7 billion pieces of disposable tableware annually, and only 10 percent of them are recycled. Companies that fail to comply with the ban will be fined, and in case of repeated violations, a criminal penalty may be imposed.
Britain’s Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said she was “proud of our efforts” to reduce plastic pollution and protect the oceans, citing the ban already in place on “microbeads, drinking straws, stirrers and cotton swabs”.
She added that imposing fees on plastic bags led to a 97 percent drop in sales in supermarkets. However, the ban will not apply to plates, trays and containers used for packaging in “self-service pre-prepared foods and dishes”.
The government is considering new measures targeting tissues, coffee filters and bags.
Environmental NGO Greenpeace welcomed the ban on “certain items” made of plastic, but said: “We are drowning in plastic and this decision is like using a water mop instead of turning off the tap.”
“We need the government to adopt a meaningful strategy to reduce plastics, with targets and regulations for the reuse” of the containers, she added in a statement. Single-use plastic utensils have been banned in the European Union since July 2021. (AFP)