Travel brands have joined the fight against plastic, as have a few cities, islands and even a few states, but now a whole country will tackle the pollutive problem by banning it from distribution.
England’s Environmental Secretary Michael Gove has confirmed that the European country will ban the supply of plastic items from April 2020 in order to protect the planet from the damaging product.
The ban will prevent food and drink outlets from displaying or automatically handing out harmful items such as plastic straws, drink stirrers and cotton buds. Additionally, the UK’s major shopping centre, Morrisons, will roll out plastic-free fruit and vegetable areas across its chains.
Image: Sagar Chaudhray/Unsplash
This move will help reduce the 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million stirrers and 1.8 billion cotton buds used every year across the country, Standard.co.uk reported.
Exceptions will be made for cotton buds being used for medical and scientific purposes.
Exceptions will be made for ear buds being used for medical purposes. Image: Sharon McCutcheon/Unsplash
The drastic move was welcomed by those across London who, according to a recent government study, voted in favour of plastic removal with 90 percent requesting a ban on drink stirrers, 89 perent wanting to erradicate cotton buds and 80 percent asking for a pull back on straws.
England’s decision will also bring it in line with other European countries who voted in favour of banning single-use items at the European Parliament earlier this year.
- READ: Rottnest Island takes a stand against plastic straws
- READ: Australia’s first plastic-free flight touches down on Earth Day
- READ: Europe bans single-use plastic from straws to cutlery & cups
