ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners say it is now “imperative” that the Scottish Government acts quickly to ban single-use plastic items.
Friends of the Earth Scotland warned that delaying a ban by even six months could result in hundreds of millions more items such as straws and disposable cutlery ending up in landfill sites across the country.
The organisation called on ministers to act at the end of a Scottish Government consultation which looked at the possibility of introducing restrictions on single-use plastic items such as cutlery, plates, straws, drink stirrers and balloon sticks.
Friends of the Earth Scotland campaigner Sarah Moyes insisted the response from the public “clearly shows that people are concerned about plastic pollution in Scotland and want to see action to tackle these persistent polluters”.
Moyes continued: “The knife and fork we use for a quick bite to eat shouldn’t endure beyond our lifetime sitting in landfill for hundreds of years.
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“Plastic pollutes at every stage of its life cycle from the oil and gas extracted to produce it, to the end products which litter our environment.”
Scots use an estimated 300 million plastic straws and 276m pieces of plastic cutlery every year.
Figures published by the Scottish Government also show that people used 50m plastic plates and 66m polystyrene food containers each year.
Ministers have already committed to meeting a European Union directive to introduce restrictions on the sale of some of the most environmentally harmful single-use plastic products by July 2021.
That pledge was included in Nicola Sturgeon’s 2019-20 Programme for Government.
But plans for a Circular Economy Bill, which would have included measures to cut litter, were put on hold amidst the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Moyes said it was “imperative” that the Scottish Government move quickly to end the use of single-use plastics.
Moyes said that exemptions to the ban could be put in place for products such as plastic straws provided for medical use and to support independent living.
The Friends of the Earth Scotland campaigner continued: “Even a delay of just six months will lead to hundreds of millions of extra pieces of disposable plastic circulating in Scotland.”
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