Case study of
#00091 Bans on the most-littered problematic single-use plastics
England, UK
#00103
OngoingNational
Implementer
UK Government (Defra)
Timeline
Since Oct 1, 2023
Location
England, UK52.5310, -1.2649
Description
England banned plastic cutlery, plates, and polystyrene food and drink containers effective October 2023, implemented by UK Government (Defra). The ban removes targeted items from the market outright. Litter-reduction effects are not yet quantified.
Lessons learned
- Bans tend to arrive as one step in a sequence of single-use plastic measures (after bag charges, microbead and straw/stirrer bans), suggesting incremental political sequencing is a viable pathway.
Documented Jun 26, 2026