Plastic bans are laws that prohibit the use of polymers manufactured from petroleum or other fossil fuels, given the pollution and threat to biodiversity that they cause. A growing number of countries have instituted plastic bag bans, and a ban on single-use plastic (such as throw-away forks or plates), and are looking to spread bans to all plastic packaging, plastic clothing (such as polyester and acrylic fiber, or any other form of unnecessary plastic that could be replaced with an easily biodegradeable, non-fossil-fuel or non-polluting alternative. Plastics biodegrade over a long period of time, and may not biodegrade fully (so that they are absorbed into the ecosystemic) leaving traces of microplastics, ranging from 450 years for a PET plastic bottle (type 1) to thousands "never" for polypropylene-based products, including food containers (type 5).[1]

Plastic bag bans

Phase out of lightweight plastic bags around the world
Phase out of lightweight plastic bags around the world (laws passed but not yet in effect are not shown on map)
  Plastic bags banned
  A charge on some plastic bags
  Voluntary charge agreement
  Partial charge or ban (municipal or regional levels)

Single-use plastic bans

The European Union Plastic Products Directive 2019 banned single-use plastic plates, cutlery, straws, balloon sticks and cotton buds; cups, food and beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene, and all products made of oxo-degradable plastic, and to fishing gear containing plastic.[2] The fuller list of plastics banned are listed in the Annex to the Directive.[3]

From October 2023, the UK government has banned "single-use plastics" in England, which are defined to include a range of products, but does not include "shelf-ready pre-packaged food items" found in most supermarkets.[4]

China has a phased-in program of plastic bans from 2020 to 2025 on products from bags, to straws, to cutlery, to certain packaging, to items in hotels.[5]

Plastic packaging and clothing bans

There have been broader calls for bans on use of plastics in all packaging, particularly in supermarkets and products, and in clothing.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Types of Plastic - A Complete Plastic Numbers Guide (2020) YesStraws.com
  2. ↑ 'EU unveils plans to cut Europe’s plastic and packaging waste' (30 November 2022) Guardian
  3. ↑ Plastic Products Directive (EU) 2019/904, Annex
  4. ↑ 'Far-reaching ban on single-use plastics in England' (14 January 2023) gov.uk. J Clinton, 'October start set for ban in England of single-use plastic tableware' (14 January 2023) Guardian
  5. ↑ See Waste 360 and BBIA.org.uk
  6. ↑ e.g. S Usborne, 'The big fashion fight: can we remove all the toxic, invisible plastic from our clothes?' (16 July 2019) Guardian
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