Single use plastics ban

The new ban is primarily focused on businesses, such as takeaways, sandwich bars, care homes and retailers who supply single use plastic items, also known as disposable plastics. This includes single-use plastic cutlery, balloon sticks, polystyrene cups, or food containers. ‘Single use’ means the item is meant to be used only once for its original purpose.

The ban on these items includes:

• online and over-the-counter sales and supply.
• items from new and existing stock.
• all types of single-use plastic, including biodegradable, compostable and recycled.
• items wholly or partly made from plastic, including coating or lining.

Bolton businesses should:

• use up existing stock before the 1st October 2023.
• find re-usable alternatives to single-use items.
• use different materials for single-use plastic items.

Plastic pollution takes hundreds of years to break down and inflicts serious damage on our ocean, rivers, and land. It is also a source of greenhouse gas emissions, from its production and manufacture to the way it is disposed.

Research shows people across England use 2.7 billion items of mostly plastic single-use cutlery and 721 million single-use plates every year, but only 10% of these are recycled. Waste that is not biodegradable ends up in landfill, so the ban has been introduced as a measure to reduce the release of associated toxins in the ground, water and air, protecting our health, the environment and wildlife.

If you continue to supply banned single-use plastics after 1st October, you could be handed warnings and fines by your local authority.

For more information of the new rules visit: Single-use plastics ban: plates, bowls, trays, containers, cutlery and balloon sticks - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)