The Government’s delay on introducing a new ‘single use’ plastics tax could see 700,000 additional tonnes of plastic packaging thrown away before the delayed tax comes into effect in 2022.

In the recent Budget the Tories announced the tax (on ‘single use’ plastics with less than 30% recycled plastic) but revealed it would be another four years before it came into effect. Why?

Over the four years until the plastic tax is introduced, this will amount to over a trillion pieces of plastic being thrown away before the tax is introduced. This includes nearly 830 billion additional pieces of non-recyclable plastics.

And by overlooking the growing issue of non-recyclable disposable coffee cups entirely in the budget, at least 100,000 additional tonnes of coffee cups will end up going to landfill over the next four years.

This is nothing short of scandalous. Yet again the Government is showing a shocking disregard for the environment at a time when the urgency and seriousness of the situation has never been clearer. 700,000 tonnes of additional plastic waste will devastate our environment while the Tories’ dither and delay over even the most basic of measures.