REA response to consultation on banning commonly littered single-use plastics in England

As part of its range of measures to leave our environment in a better state and protect it for future generations, government for England has been considering the production, consumption and end-of-life treatment of many single-use plastic items, including plastic packaging.

Moving beyond its actions so far to reduce the volumes of plastic wastes we generate, it has consulted on proposals to ban specific single-use plastic items that may not be thoroughly addressed by its existing policies or policy proposals.

Proposed to be banned are plastic plates, bowls, trays, cutlery and balloon sticks as well as expanded and extruded polystyrene food containers, beverage containers and cups.  Included also in the prospective bans are ‘all bio-based, compostable and biodegradable plastic (such as PLA)’.

The REA’s response supported the majority of the proposed bans but we called for industrially compostable, industrially digestible-compostable and home compostable plastic versions of most of these products not to be banned.

REA members can contact [email protected] if they wish to discuss issues relevant to this topic.