Minister for litter escalates war on ‘strawpedoes’

ADULTS should “act responsibly” by rejecting plastic straws, an environment minister has said.

Thérèse Coffey, the “minister for litter”, has started to take direct action against the use of plastic straws as the Government gears up for a major assault on litter this spring.

Ms Coffey has regularly tweeted support for the increasing number of restaurant and bar chains which are stopping offering plastic drinking straws, which she calls “strawpedoes”.

She said that she hoped the changing public mood would “signal the end of strawpedoes, we (esp adults) don’t need plastic straws to drink”.

Plastic straws have become the latest target for green campaigners following demands to cut the use of plastic bags, disposable coffee cups and microbeads.

Ms Coffey is understood to have challenged guests at political drinks parties by removing plastic straws from their glasses.

The minister said she wanted to encourage people to feel they can challenge littering in public places. “Littering is unacceptable behaviour and time is running out for litter louts,” she said. “We can all do our bit and encourage others to act responsibly on reducing waste, including our everyday choices like do you really need a straw?”

A change in the law in April will double litter fines to nearly £150 and make liable for the first time the owner of a vehicle from which rubbish is thrown. On Twitter, the minister described litter louts as “tossers”.

This month Ms Coffey told one driver: “I saw you toss litter from your car just now. We are changing the law with effect from April 1 so that it will be easier for the car owner to be fined #dontbeatosser”

She also tweeted support for a teenager who had been teased for picking up litter: “Nadia Sparkes is a heroine #trashgirl”.

Keep Britain Tidy estimates that more than 30million tons of litter are collected from streets in England every year, enough to fill Wembley Stadium four times. Surveys show that while 62 per cent of people dropped litter, just 28 per cent admitted to have done so.

Two years ago Adrian Evans, an official in charge of cleaning up the UK in time for the Queen’s 90th birthday in April 2016, complained that many litter louts thought that it was their “human right” to drop rubbish.

He said: “There is an education process that we all have to go through just to remind ourselves that when we litter

‘I hope changing the public mood will signal the end of strawpedoes, we don’t need plastic straws to drink’