Today (22nd April 2024), on Earth Day, the Environment Secretary has confirmed new world-leading legislation to ban wet wipes containing plastic following overwhelming support during the consultation process.
Dr Neil Hudson fully supports the move, which will help tackle plastic pollution and clean up our precious waterways. He has been at the forefront of the Commons' response to water company polluters and contributed heavily to the UK Government's historic clean water programme.
Defra intend to bring forward the legislation for England ahead of summer recess, with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales following by the autumn as part of an aligned approach to bring the ban into force.
Wet wipes containing plastic break down into microplastics over time, which research shows can be harmful to human health and disrupt our ecosystems – with a recent survey showing an average of 20 wet wipes were found per 100 metres of beach surveyed across the UK.
Once in our water environment, wet wipes containing plastic can accumulate biological and chemical pollutants, increasing the risk of harm to the animals and humans who encounter them.
Banning them will reduce plastic and microplastic pollution and reduce the volume of microplastics entering wastewater treatment sites when wrongly flushed – meaning our beaches and waterways will benefit from the ban.
Responses to the public consultation showed overwhelming support for the proposed ban – which will be introduced via secondary legislation under our Environmental Protection Act 1990 – with 95% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with the proposals. The government’s response has been published today alongside the Welsh Government, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive.
Marking Earth Day 2024, with its theme of ‘Planet vs. Plastics’, the response sets out next steps to deliver the ban, building on action taken across the UK to tackle plastic pollution.
Dr Neil Hudson MP said:
"Microplastics are a blight on our nation - harming environments, animals and humans too. Our Conservative Government has already banned microbeads in cosmetics, restricted single use plastic utensils and seen billions fewer single-use plastic bags putting us in a world-leading position on cutting out plastic pollution.
"Having worked hard in Parliament to clamp down on immoral water company polluters, I'm delighted to support this newest initiative from the Environment Secretary to clean up our precious waterways."
Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said:
"Wet wipes containing plastic are polluting our waterways and causing microplastics to enter the environment. Defra will introduce legislation before the summer recess to crack down on this unnecessary source of pollution, following our successful single-use carrier bag charge and ban on microbeads in personal care products.
"I have been clear that a step change is needed to protect our waterways from pollution. The ban builds on a raft of actions already taken to protect our waterways and hold water companies accountable - including accelerating investment, putting water company fines back into the environment and quadrupling the number of inspections of water company sites."
Plastic-free wet wipes are readily available and several retailers have already stopped selling wet wipes containing plastic.
An 18-month transition period will start from when legislation is passed to allow businesses time to prepare. Following consultation with industry, the ban will not include the manufacture of these products, in line with other recent single-use plastic bans.
However, the government will continue to encourage manufacturers to move to a position where all their wet wipes are plastic free.
The government response also sets out exemptions to ensure that wet wipes containing plastic remain available where there is no viable alternative – such as for medical disinfectant purposes. The Government will review the need for these exemptions regularly.
