Refuse Single Use Plastics

British consumers could face new taxes on takeaway food packaging and containers, including throwaway coffee cups, as the government aims to crack down on environmentally damaging “single-use plastics”. 

Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget on Wednesday is due to include a consultation on how to curb consumer use of these materials through a review of taxes and charges. In the UK alone, the amount of single-use plastics thrown away each year would fill London’s Royal Albert Hall a thousand times over, according to officials.

Scientists from Newcastle University revealed this week that plastic particles had been found inside creatures living in the very deepest parts of the ocean, at almost 11,000 metres below the surface. The Treasury said on Saturday it wanted Britain to help develop solutions to address the global problem of plastics pollution, amid concerns about a floating “continent” of these materials — the size of France — in the Pacific Ocean. 

The Treasury will launch a call for evidence in relation to single-use plastics in the new year, and will take into account a concurrent consultation by the environment department on a deposit return scheme for drinks containers. The expected crackdown on single use plastics would affect bubble wrap, takeaway food boxes and throwaway coffee cups. These cups are rejected by most paper recycling facilities because they have a plastic inner lining.

Discounts offered by coffee shop chains Costa and Starbucks to customers bringing their own reusable cups have so far had very little effect. Tisha Brown of Greenpeace UK said it was inevitable that using an “almost indestructible material” like single-use plastics to make disposal products would lead to problems. “We are starting to discover how big those problems are,” she added. “Ocean plastic pollution is a global emergency, it is everywhere from the Arctic Ocean at top of the world, to the Marianas Trench at the bottom of the Pacific.” Ms Brown said the Treasury announcement was “only a statement of intent”. “There is a long way to go, but hopefully this is the beginning of the end for single-use plastic,” she added.

The government’s latest move follows the successful introduction in 2015 of a 5p charge on single-use plastic carrier bags. That initiative has led to an 80 per cent reduction in plastic bag use. Ministers are also taking action on microbeads used in shower gels and toothpastes, with a ban on manufacturing from January and an end to sales from June. Officials said that such initiatives could help the economy benefit from greener production methods to conserve and recycle more of the world’s resources.

Nick Daniel | Senior Consultant | Acre | www.acre.com