The government of England has announced intentions to outlaw single-use plastic dinnerware, including plastic plates, utensils, and closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam trays (commonly known as Styrofoam).
Following similar bans in Scotland and Wales, the announcement was made. Wales just enacted a single-use plastics ban in December 2022 that will go into effect in the fall of this year, and Scotland’s ban on single-use plastics took effect in August 2022.
According to the BBC, England’s Environment Secretary Th r se Coffey announced the ban and noted that it will protect the environment for future generations. The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) conducted a consultation on single-use plastics from November 2021 to February 2022. The results of the consultation were due to be released on January 14, 2023.
Only 10% of the single-use plates and 4.25 billion single-use pieces of silverware that are used in England each year are recycled, according to estimates.
According to Coffey, a plastic fork can take 200 years to degrade, which is 200 years in a landfill or two centuries of poisoning our oceans. I’m committed to moving the process along in order to address this problem head-on.
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Although there is still more to be done, we have listened to the public once more and have already taken some significant measures in recent years. This new restriction will significantly reduce the pollution caused by billions of pieces of plastic and contribute to the preservation of the environment for future generations.
Although the move is being criticized by environmentalists for not going far enough to curb single-use plastics, the ban is nevertheless seen as a positive step. According to the BBC, the prohibition will apply to single-use plastics in restaurants, including those used for takeout food and drinks, but not in grocery stores or retail establishments.
While the removal of billions of widely littered goods is never a bad thing, it is a very long delayed measure and still a drop in the ocean compared to the action that’s needed to stem the plastic tide, said Megan Randles, political campaigner for Greenpeace UK.
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Additionally, Randles argued that the government should put more effort into creating systems for reuse and refill, such as a deposit-return program, and exert more pressure on manufacturers to accept responsibility for single-use plastics and implement more significant improvements.
We’re dealing with a plastic deluge, and Randles compared this to turning off the water rather than reaching for a mop.
