PM VOWS TO END PLASTIC SCOURGE
In victory for Mail, May pledges plastic-free supermarket aisles and cash to clean oceans
THERESA May will today pledge to break Britain’s addiction to throwaway plastic and tackle ‘one of the great environmental scourges of our time’.
In a landmark speech on the environment, she will warn that future generations will be ‘shocked’ by society’s profligate use of plastic.
The Prime Minister will unveil a 25-year strategy to eliminate all ‘avoidable’ plastic, including bottles, cups and almost all plastic packaging.
Pledging action, she will say: ‘We look back in horror at some of the damage done to our environment in the past and wonder how anyone could have thought that, for example, dumping toxic chemicals, untreated, into rivers was ever the right thing to do.
‘In years to come, I think people will be shocked at how today we allow so much plastic to be produced needlessly.’
Mrs May will also praise the Daily Mail for its ‘tireless campaigning’ on the issue, which has already helped bring about the 5p charge
on plastic bags, a ban on microbeads, proposals for a deposit return scheme for bottles and plans for a tax on disposable coffee cups. Announcing a series of measures to tackle the plastic plague, Mrs May will:
Call on supermarkets to create ‘plasticfree aisles’ to allow shoppers to help save the world’s oceans.
Unveil plans to consult on a new tax on all single-use plastics, including disposable cups, plastic cutlery and straws, and packaging such as bubble wrap.
Announce proposals to phase out all plastic cups and cutlery from Whitehall.
Outline a scheme to use Britain’s £13billion foreign aid budget to help clean up the world’s oceans.
The package is part of a 25-year environment strategy which will cover everything from air pollution and litter to clean energy and sustainable housing.
Senior Tories believe the party’s renewed on the environment could help attract younger voters.
But powerful media coverage – such as the Daily Mail’s campaigns and David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II series – is also said to have played a part in convincing Mrs May of the need to act.
In a tough message, she will say: ‘We must reduce the demand for plastic, reduce the number of plastics in circulation and improve our recycling rates.
‘To tackle it we will take action at every stage of the production and consumption of plastic.’
She will warn that Britain alone throws away enough single-use plastic each year to fill the Royal Albert Hall 1,000 times over.
Across the world, 8.3billion tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s – a figure set to quadruple in the next 30 years unless urgent action is taken.
Mrs May will warn the tide of plastic is causing ‘immense sufferfocus ing to individual creatures and degrading vital habitats’.
Across the world, one million birds and at least 100,000 turtles and other sea mammals die after eating or getting tangled in plastic waste. A recent study revealed almost half of all fish caught off Scotland’s coasts have swallowed potentially toxic plastic debris.
Yesterday, the Scottish Daily Mail revealed how 450lb of plastic waste, from as far afield as Russia and Canada, was recovered at Balnakeil beach, near Durness, Sutherland, during a clean-up.
To halt the trend for excessive packaging, Mrs May will announce plans to work with retailers to introduce ‘plastic-free aisles’. Ministers want to cut out all ‘avoidable plastic waste’ by 2042.
The idea of plastic-free aisles was welcomed by campaign group A Plastic Planet. Co-founder Sian Sutherland said plastic is ‘killing our planet’.
On foreign aid, Mrs May will pledge to use aid money to help developing countries tackle pollution and cut plastic waste, increase marine protected areas in the UK and establish a protected ‘blue belt’ in Overseas Territories.
She will also pledge to ‘demonstrate global leadership’ on the issue – set to be a key topic at this year’s Commonwealth summit in London. Her announcements follow a series of campaign victories for the Scottish Daily Mail.
Nicola Sturgeon has vowed to introduce a bottle deposit return scheme in Scotland by 2019 after a Banish the Bottle campaign by this paper. She has also announced the formation of an expert panel whose members will consider how to reduce the volume of single-use plastic products.
The Scottish Government has announced manufacturers and retailers could face two years’ jail and a £5,000 fine if they breach a proposed ban on microbeads. The use of microbeads in all cosmetic, beauty and personal care products is set to be prohibited from July 9 next year, in yet another victory for this paper.
Meanwhile, MSP Kate Forbes is campaigning to ban single-use plastic straws and the Scottish Government will ban plastic cotton buds’ sale and manufacture.
Chief executive of environmental charity WWF Tanya Steele said people ‘don’t want to be drowning in all this plastic, whether it’s unnecessary packaging or endless bottles that can’t be recycled’.
Comment – Page 16