Ban to take single-use plastics off the menu but environmentalists say this there is still “a gluttony of pointless plastics” to be tackled

In England, every year, we currently consume a staggering 1.1 billion single-use plates and 4.25 billion items of single-use cutlery — most of which are plastic – but shockingly, only a meagre 10% of this gets recycled. To paint a picture, if we were to line up all these pieces of cutlery, they would encircle our planet over eight and a half times.

Ban to take single-use plastics off the menu but environmentalists say this there is still “a gluttony of pointless plastics” to be tackled

City to Sea, the organisation who campaigned for the up-coming ban on single-use plastics securing 118,000 signatures and over 50,000 responses to the Defra consultation, has today welcomed the ban coming into force this Sunday but warned that there is still “a gluttony of polluting plastics” to be tackled.

Responding to the news that the ban on single-use cutlery, takeaway plates, and particular polystyrene containers is coming into force on Sunday the 1st October, City to Sea’s Policy Manager Steve Hynd said

City to Sea’s Policy Manager, Steve Hynd, said,

“As of this Sunday some of the most polluting single-use plastics will be off the menu altogether. When we go for a takeaway next week, we will no longer be offered single-use cutlery, takeaway plates, and specific polystyrene packaging. This is a huge victory for the 118,000 City to Sea supporters who signed our petition and the 50,000 who responded to the Defra consultation.”

He continued, “Despite the ban taking some of the worst single-use plastics off the menu, there is still a gluttony of polluting plastics that need to be delt with. Government needs to set ambitious and legally binding reduction and reuse targets to start to address this excess. Instead, we’ve seen important environmental legislation being watered down and weakened in recent weeks. Flagship policies like Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Deposit Return Schemes (DRS), and recycling reforms – all lacking ambition and have now been delayed beyond the next election. Without these measures in places, the ban will see the back of a few polluting items but will do little to stem the much bigger tide of plastics polluting our waterways. This ban, while of course welcome, is by itself just a drop in a very polluted ocean.”