The petition was submitted to Downing Street by City to Sea, 38 Degrees and Greenpeace as part of the #CutTheCutlery campaign. The call comes as public pressure builds on Environment Secretary George Eustice to be ‘quicker and more ambitious’ in tackling plastic pollution.
The trio are calling for legally binding targets for single-use plastic reduction and reuse within the Environment Act- with the aim of a 50% reduction by 2025 and 25% of packaging to be reusable by 2025.
Megan Bentall, head of campaigns at 38 Degrees, said: “There’s no doubt about it - this is an absolutely massive show of public support for finally banning these unnecessary and polluting plastic items.
“The fact that more than 50,000 people have taken the time to participate in a detailed government consultation on this issue is the clearest demonstration yet that we are simply done with these plastic items polluting our environment. The government has no choice but to listen. And they should respond with a quicker, more ambitious plan.”
The government’s consultation, which closed last weekend, aimed to discover the public’s views on banning single-use plastic plates. Almost two thirds (64%) said the ban should kick in sooner than the Government’s April 2023 start date, with Scotland due to introduce a comparable ban by June 2022.
Two thirds (67%) of respondents said they’d be ‘very willing’ to pay more for products and services that used packaging in a more sustainable way.
Maja Darlington, campaigner at Greenpeace UK, added: "After years of talking about being a global leader in tackling plastic pollution, the government has managed to crack down on a grand total of four single-use plastic items and microplastics.
“The UK public has long been willing and ready to move on from polluting throwaway plastic. Is the government going to catch up and get on with reducing all single-use plastics by 50% by 2025?”