LEADING environmental campaigners, A Plastic Planet, have today called on the UK to follow the European Union in banning single-use plastic sachets.
The EU announced the decision to ban sauce sachets by 2030 on Monday (4th March) as part of a deal on a new green packaging law.[1]
The legislation comes after years of campaigning by A Plastic Planet to eradicate the “curse” of plastic sachets.
In 2020, a coalition of more than 50 business leaders, politicians and campaigners successfully came together to demand for the inclusion of plastic sachets in European and UK legislation, positioning them alongside other single-use items such as plastic straws and cotton buds.
Later that year, an Early Day Motion supported by 26 cross-party politicians pressed for a ban on all non-food plastic sachets.[2]
A government consultation, prompted by the campaign, revealed overwhelming support for a ban on single-use sachets in the UK, with only five percent of respondents opposed such a measure. [3]
However, sachets were absent from the Single Use Plastic Ban introduced in October 2023, with the country also falling behind in banning wet wipes.
It is estimated that up to 700 million single use plastic sachets are used in the UK every year.[4]
A Plastic Planet’s ‘Reuse, Refill, Replace Revolution’ strategy was launched in 2023 outlining a ten-year roadmap to phase out single-use plastic items, including a proposal to ban sachets by the end of 2025, ahead of the EU’s timeline.
Sian Sutherland, Co-Founder of A Plastic Planet, said: “We celebrate the EU’s decision to move to ban plastic sauce sachets. We have campaigned for the EU to sack the sachet since 2020 with our Sack The Sachet campaign, whilst also working with some of the biggest food giants on urgently needed alternative systems and materials.
“A year’s worth of sachets measuring some 72 million kilometres – the equivalent of 189 trips between the earth and the moon. Virtually all plastic sachets are destined to pollute our precious natural habitats, where they’ll break down into microplastics, spread far and wide, enter our food chains, and leach toxic, endocrine-disrupting chemicals into our soils and waters.
“Now we call on the UK Government to replicate this move in Britain.”
[1] https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/03/04/packaging-council-and-parliament-strike-a-deal-to-make-packaging-more-sustainable-and-reduce-packaging-waste-in-the-eu/
[2] https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/57372/ban-on-sample-sachets
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/commonly-littered-single-use-plastic-items-call-for-evidence/outcome/summary-of-responses-and-government-response
[4] https://npwd.environment-agency.gov.uk/FileDownload.ashx?FileId=8ebab7ef-873e-43c7-977a-a5c25b153eb6