The brand new rules, which had been introduced by Secretary of State for Atmosphere, Meals and Rural Affairs Therese Coffey, in January 2023 and got here into power this month (1 October), embody the banning of single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks, and sure kinds of polystyrene cups and meals containers.
This impacts a spread of companies in England together with retailers, takeaways, meals distributors and the hospitality business.
The ban won’t apply to single-use plastic plates, trays and bowls used as packaging in shelf-ready pre-packaged meals gadgets as these might be included within the plans for an prolonged producer accountability scheme, which is aimed toward incentivising producers to make use of much less packaging and meet larger recycling targets.
The transfer follows Scotland that launched its personal model of a ban on using single-use plastic gadgets in June 2022 whereas Wales is implementing its personal laws on 30 October 2023.
Atmosphere minister Rebecca Pow mentioned this ban would assist defend the setting.
“This builds on world-leading bans on straws, stirrers and cotton buds, our single-use provider bag cost and our plastic packaging tax, serving to us on our journey to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042,” she mentioned.
Enterprise might face fines if they’re discovered to be breaking the legislation with native authorities accountable for finishing up inspections and enforcement. In England it’s a mounted penalty high-quality of £200, whereas in Scotland companies can face a high-quality of as much as £5,000. In Wales its draft steerage mentioned that companies might face magistrates court docket and a limiteless high-quality.
The Authorities mentioned that it engaged carefully with business, related commerce our bodies, native authorities and Buying and selling Requirements officers to arrange for the brand new guidelines.
Nonetheless, the Native Authorities Affiliation (LGA) was essential of the prices confronted by councils of imposing the ban.
Cllr Darren Rodwell, Atmosphere spokesperson for the LGA, added: “Nonetheless, we’re involved that some native companies and customers usually are not conscious of the approaching ban on these supplies and would encourage everybody to try the supplies impacted by it.”
In the meantime, Helen Hen, head of Materials Techniques at WRAP, mentioned: “Single-use plastics dominate our world, and have even develop into embedded into the planet itself. This ban is a vital second in tackling the scourge of plastic air pollution.”
UKHospitality chief government Kate Nicholls mentioned: “Hospitality companies have made large strides in lowering their plastic utilization and that progress has resulted within the overwhelming majority of venues already eliminating single-use cutlery from their operations, a vital a part of our ambitions to achieve web zero.”
There are additionally plans for the implementation of a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers masking England, Wales and Northern Eire, in 2025. Scotland’s implementation has been delayed till October 2025.
