Plastic straws will be banned in the UK from April 2020

D. Callcut / Alamy

By Adam Vaughan

The billions of plastic straws consumed in the UK every twelve months would perchance be banned from April 2020 as half of authorities efforts to present protection to marine life. Drinks stirrers and cotton buds will moreover be banned.

The ban changed into as soon as first floated by ministers more than a twelve months previously, and it changed into as soon as in the origin deliberate to achieve into ticket in 2019, in preference to 2020.

Many cafes, bars and eating locations hang already switched to doable picks made from paper, but the circulation might well perchance perchance easy at closing extinguish the estimated annual spend of 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds. There would perchance be exemptions for folk that want plastic straws for medical causes.

A consultation launched closing October stumbled on overwhelming public make stronger in the UK for a ban on the distribution and sale of the products.

“These items are most frequently used for correct about a minutes but gather tons of of years to fall down, ending up in our seas and oceans and harming precious marine life,” setting secretary Michael Gove acknowledged in statement.

Greenpeace welcomed the circulation, but says more is wished. “To unquestionably kind out the plastic disaster we want bigger, bolder circulate from this authorities – including targets to radically decrease the manufacturing of single-spend plastics and an all-inclusive deposit return plan,” says Sam Chetan-Welsh, a campaigner on the group.

Gove is but to originate a closing determination on a “latte levy” cost for single spend espresso cups, a deposit return plan for drinks containers or a tax on single spend plastic with decrease than 30 per cent recycled announce material.

If the UK stays a member of the European Union, powerful more single-spend items, including cutlery and plates, would perchance be banned by 2021, under measures agreed by the European Parliament.