Campaigners welcomed the fall but said the 9.6m cups ordered was too many. Nevertheless, hospitals, emergency services, councils and government organisations have all said they are trying to reduce the amount of waste produced by cups.
Monmouthshire council said it too had stopped using single-use plastics since 2018-2019, while others are investing in biodegradable cups or encouraging staff to have reusable cups and plastics.
Its great news that Wales public bodies are reducing the number of single-use plastic cups they are using and tackling problem plastics such as straws and plastic cutlery, to be eliminated by the end of 2020 under the Waste and Resources Action Programmes (Wrap) UK Plastics Pact (Click Here). But these figures show there is still work to be done. said Bettina Gilbert, programme manager at Wrap Cymru (Cardiff). She added that Wrap Cymru will shortly publish a single-use plastics procurement guidance for the Welsh public sector and launch hands-on support for public sector bodies so that sustainable procurement lies at the heart of their work.
In July 2019, Wrap UK published the Defining whats recyclable and best in class polymer choices for packaging as part of plans to significantly improve the recycling rate of plastic packaging in the UK. It provides direction for setting out a best in class vision for packaging design, including targets for recycled content.
In addition, a grant has been unveiled to help improve recycling rates. The new recycling grant is part of the GBP 18m Resource Action Fund, launched by the UKs Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in May 2019. The Resources and Waste Strategy for England sets out to significantly increase municipal waste recycling in line with the adoption of European circular economy targets of a 55% recycling rate by 2025, 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035. The aim of this grant is to provide capital support to increase the recycling infrastructure for non-household municipal waste.
Source: K-online
