Single-use plastic ban: Welsh Government introduce a comprehensive single-use plastic Bill
Wales are taking strides to tackle the climate and nature emergencies and achieve Net Zero, by legislating a ban on single-use plastic items. Bans on single-use plastic items, typically the most littered food and beverage consumption items, are in progress to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste which pollute and harm our land, seas, and wildlife.
This step follows the 2020 consultation on introducing a single-use plastic ban, which sought views on the proposed items to include. On the 20 September 2022, the Welsh Government published the Bill containing the final list of items to be banned, called: The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill. This will make it an offence to supply or offer to supply these single-use plastic products to consumers in Wales.
The Bill will be presented and considered at Senedd (Welsh Parliament), and if approved will be legislated as an Act, following which it will be an offence to supply or offer to supply these products. The exact timescales of this activity and when we can expect the ban to come into force were not clarified in the Welsh Government release.
Whilst Wales are not the first UK devolved nation to introduce a ban, however their ban contains the most comprehensive list of single-use plastic items.
Items included are:
- cutlery
- plates
- stirrers
- drinking straws – this product has an exemption for health needs
- plastic stemmed cotton buds
- balloon sticks
- expanded and foamed extruded polystyrene fast-food containers
- expanded and foamed extruded polystyrene cups
- polystyrene lids for all cups and fast-food containers
- thin plastic single-use carrier bags
- all products made of oxo-degradable plastic
It is worth noting, that the final point in the list includes the ban of ALL oxo-degradable plastic products, not just those listed above.
To read the Bill, please click here: https://senedd.wales/media/gcaoxee5/pri-ld15321-e.pdf
Where are the rest of the UK in comparison?
Please see below our updated single-use plastic ban comparison table for the UK devolved nations & EU countries.
To read our full news story outlining the progress of all other UK devolved nations, click here.
For further information or to understand specifically how this impacts your company, please get in touch at solutions@complydirect.com.