Ban to be enforced on plastic straws, drinks stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds 

A ban on plastic straws, drinks stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds in England has today (Wednesday 22 May) been confirmed by the government, following overwhelming public support for the move.

Following an open consultation, a ban on the supply of plastic straws, drinks stirrers and cotton buds will come into force in April 2020.

Over 80% of consultation respondents backed a ban on the distribution and sale of plastic straws, whilst 90% supported a ban on drinks stirrers, and 89% on cotton buds.

However, the ban will include exemptions to ensure that those with medical needs or a disability are able to continue to access plastic straws.

Registered pharmacies will be allowed to sell plastic straws over the counter or online. Catering establishments such as restaurants, pubs and bars will not be able to display plastic straws or automatically hand them out, but they will be able to provide them on request. 

In England, it is estimated that annually we use 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds. An estimated 10% of cotton buds are flushed down toilets and can end up in waterways and oceans.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “Urgent and decisive action is needed to tackle plastic pollution and protect our environment. These items are often used for just a few minutes but take hundreds of years to break down, ending up in our seas and oceans and harming precious marine life.

“I am taking action to turn the tide on plastic pollution, and ensure we leave our environment in a better state for future generations.”

Even though non-plastic alternatives are readily available, it is estimated that 95% of straws are still plastic. Cleaning up the effects of littering costs local government millions of pounds every year, with costs also imposed on the tourism and fishing industries, and the effect of plastic pollution worrying 89% of people.

It is estimated there are over 150 million tonnes of plastic in the world’s oceans and every year one million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals die from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste.

A recent report estimates that plastic in the sea is set to treble by 2025.

An exemption will also be in place to allow the use of plastic-stemmed cotton buds for medical and scientific purposes, where these are often the only practical option.

Today’s announcement follows successful bans on microbeads and 5p charge on single-use plastic bags, which has seen distribution by major supermarkets drop by 86%.

The news has been welcomed organisations and charities including Muscular Dystrophy UK, SeaStraw, a Manchester-based volunteer-run campaign, City to Sea, the organisation behind the award-winning #SwitchTheStick campaign, which convinced retailers to switch from plastic to paper cotton buds.

Lauren West, Trailblazers Manager at Muscular Dystrophy UK, said: “Plastic straws are sometimes the only type of straw that work for disabled people due to their flexibility and ability to be used in hot and cold drinks. While we appreciate the need to reduce the use of plastics, traditional single-use straws are essential for some disabled people.

“If disabled people cannot access plastic straws when out it could put their health at risk as they may not be able to drink and could become dehydrated. We’re pleased the Government has recognised this in its proposals put forward today.

“We would encourage Defra to continue consulting disabled people and groups like Trailblazers to ensure we are not disadvantaged or targeted and stigmatised for using single-use plastics.”

Natalie Fee, the founder of City to Sea, added: “It’s fantastic to see the government finally introducing a ban on cotton buds. Since our successful #SwitchtheStick campaign in 2017, we’ve seen over 400 tonnes of plastic stopped at source each year through all major retailers having switched to paper stem buds.

“This ban will now mop up all the smaller retailers and pharmacies who still need to make the switch and hopefully make flushed cotton buds on UK riverbanks and beaches a thing of the past.”

Doug Robertson, co-founder of SeaStraw, said: “This is an important small step, showing that the government recognise the enormous public pressure to take action to reduce our dependence on single-use plastic products.

“Taken together, these three items are at number seven in the top 10 of items washed up onto our beaches, and all three can easily be replaced with compostable or reusable alternatives to cut back on waste and to help protect our oceans and marine life from the plastic tide.

“It's great they will drop out of the premier league of litter, however we need urgent government action to challenge industry to replace the rest of the top offenders: cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic drinks bottles and bottle tops, plastic bags, plastic and foam takeaway containers, and plastic lids.”

He continued: “The government is consulting on a deposit return scheme, placing a small deposit on plastic bottles which we can return to the supermarket to collect the cash. A similar scheme in Finland has increased the recycling rate for plastic bottles to 94%. We need to keep the pressure on government to follow through with a suitable scheme across the UK. Our aim should be to cut back on any single-use products which are expensive to make, distribute, and throw away. We can save money by switching to reusable products.

“As consumers, we can do our bit to carry a reusable shopping bag and coffee cup, and to take advantage of the growing network of water refill stations around the country but we really need government and industry to work together to give us joined-up solutions to this growing plastic crisis.”