In a bid to eliminate plastic waste, UK to ban single use cutlery and plates

In an effort to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste, the UK government is planning to ban single-use plastic plates and cutlery and polystyrene cups.

UK Environment Secretary George Eustice said, "Plastic damages our environment and destroys wildlife. This government has waged war on unnecessary, wasteful plastics - banning the supply of plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds, while our carrier bag charge has cut consumption by 95 per cent in the main supermarkets."

He further added that its time to leave throwaway culture behind as he said, "Through our world-leading Environment Act, we will reduce waste and make better use of our resources, helping us to build back greener and leave the environment in a better state than we found it. These new plans represent the next major step in eradicating the use of problematic plastics that pollute our natural world."

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The department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is launching another way to address other sources of plastic pollution.

As per this new method, stakeholders will be asked to express their views on tackling commonly littered plastics including, wet wipes, tobacco filters, sachets and other single-use cups.

The UK government will also be examining a way to put the responsibility on manufacturers and ensure that they are doing their best to tackle single-use plastics. This also includes litter from cigarette butts.

"Many companies are already taking action to cut this avoidable waste, with many shops already stocking alternatives to conventional plastic wipes, and today's move will urge more to do the same," DEFRA said.
Official data reveals that the UK uses 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups per year.

Meanwhile, France has decided to ban plastic packaging for nearly all fruit and vegetables from January 2022 in a bid to reduce plastic waste, followed by Spain which aims at banning the sale of fruit and vegetables wrapped in plastic from 2023.

Implementing a February 2020 law, the government published a list of about 30 fruits and vegetables that will have to be sold without plastic packaging from January 1.