UK-wide ban on wet wipes containing plastic to be put into law.
The UK Government will introduce new world-leading legislation to ban wet wipes containing plastic, the Environment Secretary has confirmed on 22 April 2024.
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 (For the period 2015 to 2020, an average of 20 wet wipes were found per 100m of beach surveyed across the UK according to Defra Beach Litter Monitoring Data).
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