Single-Use Plastic Tableware to Be Banned in England

Plastic forks are arranged for a photograph in London on Nov. 20, 2017. Jack Taylor/Getty Images

A range of single-use plastic items such as plastic forks and polystyrene cups will be banned in England, the UK government has confirmed.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey, who is set to announce the ban later this week, said she expects the policy would have “a huge impact to stop the pollution of billions of pieces of plastic and help to protect the natural environment for future generations.”

The ban is expected to cover single-use plastic plates, cutlery, balloon sticks, and some polystyrene cups and food and beverage containers.

In a statement published in the Mail on Sunday, Coffey said the move comes in response to “the public’s calls” and vowed to tackle marine pollution.

“A plastic fork can take 200 years to decompose—that is two centuries in landfill or polluting our oceans,” she said.

“I am determined to drive forward action to tackle this issue head on. We know there is more to do, and we have again listened to the public’s calls,” she added.

According to the publication, the upcoming ban will affect containers of food and drink that’s consumed at a restaurant or takeaway, while packages for takeaway food in supermarkets and shops will be targeted by a separate scheme next year that charges manufacturers to cover part of the disposal costs.

The ban comes after the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ran a 12-week consultation on the proposal.

The result of the consultation is expected to be published later this week. According to the Mail on Sunday, the proposed ban enjoyed “overwhelming public support.”

The public consultation (pdf) called for evidence on banning single-use plastic plates, cutlery, balloon sticks, and expanded and extruded polystyrene cups and food and beverage containers in England.

The document sought opinions on whether wet wipes containing plastic and single-use sachets should be banned, regulating cigarette littering, and introducing a charge on coffee cups.

It also asked people to list other single-use plastic items that they think should be targeted by future policies “as well as how to achieve a shift away from single-use culture.”

Scotland and Wales

England’s ban on plastic cutlery comes after the Scottish and Welsh governments took similar steps to reduce the single-use items.

Under the UK’s devolution rules, Westminster makes some policies, such as defence and foreign policies, for the whole of the UK, while Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have powers to make their own policies in some other areas.

In June, Scotland became the first country in the UK to ban businesses from supplying “problematic single-use plastics” including cutlery, plates, straws, stirrers, balloon sticks, and food and drinks containers made of expanded polystyrene.

Wales in December passed a bill targeting a similar list of items, which will be banned from autumn this year.

The UK government banned single-use plastic straws, stirrers, and cotton buds in England in 2020.

Megan Randles of Greenpeace UK welcomed the ban, but argued it’s not enough, saying, “We’re dealing with a plastic flood, and this is like reaching for a mop instead of turning off the tap.”

She called on the government to deliver a “meaningful plastic reduction strategy, which means bringing in plastic reduction targets and a proper reuse and refill scheme.”

“It’s time to stop pandering to industry lobbyists; stop promoting false solutions; and stop dumping our plastic waste in countries that have done the least to cause the climate crisis. Anything else is not global leadership on plastic,” she said.

However, not everyone agrees that banning plastic is the solution to clean up the planet.

According to a paper published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute in 2021, straws, one of the main targets of public policies around the globe, make up a tiny fraction of rubbish in the ocean, while “by-products of commercial fishing operations and problems stemming from poor disposal practices in certain countries” are the main culprits.

Author Angela Logomasini cited a 2015 study saying China and 11 other Asian nations were responsible for more than three quarters of plastic waste entering the oceans owing to their poor disposal practices.

In separate publications, she also warned about the risks of banning plastics, including the impact on modern medicine (pdf) and the risk of doing “more harm than good to the environment” by pillaging natural resources to replace plastic.