Football leagues urged to take stand on plastics

FOOTBALL LEAGUES across the United Kingdom have been urged to stop using single-use plastics.

A House of Commons committee has written to the chairmen of the English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish football leagues in a bid to encourage them to follow the Premier League.

England’s top tier pledged in April that it would be introducing a series of measures to phase out single-use plastics in its operations and supply chains over the next two years.

Labour MP Mary Creagh, the Wakefield MP who chairs the Environmental Audit Committee, called on the chairmen to “mobilise the power of sport” and make the move away from single-use plastics a reality.

Ms Creagh also asked whether each league had considered introducing a bottle-return scheme.

She added: “Plastic litter ruins our streets, chokes our seas and endangers wildlife. We all need to do our bit to tackle the scourge of plastic pollution. There is a huge opportunity for sports organisations to reduce the use of throwaway plastic at matches and encourage fans to reduce, reuse and recycle. I want the UK’s football leagues to show leadership on this issue.”

It comes after a series of announcements by the Government and businesses to tackle the issue of plastic waste amid warnings of record microplastic pollution in the Arctic and that levels of plastic in the oceans could treble by 2025 without action to curb it.

Dozens of businesses have signed up to a “world-first” voluntary pact to tackle plastic packaging, cutting it out where it is unnecessary and making sure it is recyclable and recycled.

Meanwhile, single-use coffee cups are to be banned in Scottish Government buildings. Staff have been told to bring their own mugs for takeaway hot drinks in cafes and canteens at offices including St Andrew’s House and Victoria Quay in Edinburgh and Glasgow’s Atlantic Quay.