The government has announced a plan to ban wet wipes containing plastic as part of a wider initiative to improve Britain’s waterways.
The government has announced its intention to ban wet wipes containing plastic as part of a wider plan to improve Britain’s waterways.
The proposed ban was announced by the environment minister Therese Coffey, and should come into effect next year following a public consultation. ‘It includes a commitment to consult on a ban on the use of plastic in wet wipes, responding to public calls to tackle the blight of plastic in our waterways and building on recent action from major retailers including Boots and Tesco. This ban will be subject to public consultation, working with industry and making sure plastic-free alternatives are available to the public.
Anglian Water was fined £500,000 for polluting the River Great Ouse in Northamptonshire after it failed to stop raw sewage being discharged into a river for 23 hours killing 5,000 fish ‘This announcement is nothing more than a shuffling of the deck chairs and a reheating of old, failed measures that simply give the green light for sewage dumping to continue for decades to come,’ said Labour’s Jim McMahon, shadow environment secretary.