Ban on plastic-stemmed cotton buds proposed

The UK Government is proposing a ban on plastic-stemmed cotton buds, straws and drinks stirrers after it launched a consultation, which closed on December 3, to make the selling or distribution of the plastic items illegal.

Eliminating single-use plastic items is high on the Government’s agenda as part of its 25-year Environment Plan. Plastic-stemmed cotton buds are in the top 10 most common marine litter items to get washed up on the world’s beaches, and most use plastic-based adhesives to secure the cotton tips.

While the buds are a common consumable for clinics and salons, they “cause multiple environmental harms particularly when they are discarded incorrectly, including harm to marine animals and visual pollution,” said the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’s impact assessment. 

“Even if disposed of correctly, plastic-stemmed cotton buds may end up in incineration, generating high carbon emissions… Intervention is required in order to shift the cotton bud market to plastic-free alternatives that already exist and decompose much quicker.”