The consultation proposes the introduction of market restrictions – effectively a ban – on the most commonly littered single-use plastic items found on European beaches in line with the EU Single-Use Plastic Directive. Subject to the outcome of the consultation, the Scottish Government intention is to legislate for these changes in 2021.
Consultation response posted
Keep up to date
Keep up to date with on this consultation.
FDF Scotland response
The FDF and many of our members are founding signatories of the UK plastics pact and rapidly working towards eliminating problematic single use items. As the consultation will align Scotland with the EU Single use plastics directives and the other nations within the UK are consulting on similar proposals, the FDF and our members have no issues in principle with the proposals.
Plastic Straws
FDF members will be affected by the proposed ban on straws predominantly where they produce drinks with a straw attached to the individual bottle/carton/pouch. The drinks manufacturers have been working hard to develop alternatives to plastic straws attached on-pack. The consultation does not specify when in 2021 the Scottish Government could implement a “ban” on plastic straws in Scotland. The FDF members have asked the Scottish Government to consider allowing enough time for manufacturers to sell through existing stocks of products with plastic straws attached. To avoid food waste, we suggest that the Scottish Government sets the date where no more stock would be allowed to be placed on the market (to wholesalers and distributors) to allow time to sell through this stock thus avoiding food and packaging waste. This is instead of setting a date where retailers would no longer be allowed to sell these products to Scottish shoppers.
View FDF Scotland full response