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Banning plastic in wet wipes
Call for government to speed up introduction of legislation to ban plastic in wet wipes.
18 October 2024
Wet wipes containing plastic should not be sold online at pharmacies to help protect the River Thames, rivers across the UK and the world’s oceans, environmental charity Thames21 has urged.
The charity’s call came as the government prepared to close responses to its draft consultation on banning plastic in wet wipes on Thursday 31 July.
Within the draft regulations, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has committed to banning plastic in wet wipes.
However, it has made an exemption for pharmacies to sell them online and ‘behind the counter’ if a ‘customer has requested them’.
It has also made an exemption for medical purposes.
Most wet wipes are made of plastic and are not reusable. Wet wipes can mount up on the Thames foreshore after people flush them down the toilets and sewage overflows dump them into the river.
Since 2017, Thames21 has worked with its volunteers and partners to collect more than 142,000 wet wipes from the Thames foreshore.
When these wet wipes break down into microplastics, they negatively impact the wildlife that digest them.
The charity has campaigned for many years to ban plastic in wet wipes.
‘It’s more important than ever that we protect the River Thames, and its tributaries, as we no longer want to see these items blighting our local environment and introducing microplastics into them. This sewage-based plastic pollution also finds its way into the world’s oceans, harming wildlife and people.
‘We are urging the government to reverse its plans for an exemption for pharmacies to sell plastic-based wet wipes online.
‘We need the government to take decisive action to encourage manufactures, retailers and consumers to shift towards reusable and non-plastic products.
‘Of course, banning plastic in wet wipes is not the panacea. Water companies must invest further in our sewage infrastructure so that it relies less on sewage overflows and water companies must also install more screens to prevent wet wipes entering the environment. Consumers need to dispose of their non-plastic-based wet wipes correctly – in the bin and not the toilet. Manufacturers should work hard to create plastic-free alternatives, especially for use in the medical sector.’
THAMES21 SPOKESPERSON
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