Councils need to be more accountable with single-use plastic usage, highlights new report

Councils across England, Wales, and Scotland need to be much more accountable and proactive when it comes to handling and consuming single-use plastic, a new report has revealed.

A Freedom of Information Request to UK local authorities by SodaStream, which is a major campaigner for addressing single-use plastic waste pollution, revealed that only 38 per cent of the 108 councils approached could provide details of the volume of single-use plastic bottles that they had procured over the last five years.

34 per cent admitted that they did not hold such information.

In addition, 55 per cent of Councils did not hold information on how many bottles they recycled or sent to landfill.

Of those councils that did report on handling of plastic bottle waste, the majority had recycled between 80 to 100 per cent of their bottles.

Just 14 per cent of councils were found to have specific plastic bottle policies for staff or elected officials.

Likewise, only eight per cent of all councils approached has policies for plastic bottle usage in their owned or leased premises, whilst 28 per cent were engaged with local plastic bottle waste initiatives.

The FOI request did highlight a number of examples of single-use plastic reduction activities that were being undertaken by some Councils.

Greater London Authority has introduced a new plastic free policy in 2018, which had reduced plastic bottles from 28,013 in 2017 to 4,323 in 2018.

Aberdeenshire Council’s Roads and Landscape Services is currently working on procuring reusable, branded plastic bottles for all the frontline staff to use and refill at their depots.

Monmouthshire County Council has changed its school milk contract, so that all 437,000 school milk bottles are now glass and not plastic.

Ceredigion Council has committed to reducing single-use plastics within its facilities and offices and to promote the use of sustainable alternatives at all Council supported events.

Tiago Alves, General Manager for the UK at SodaStream, said: “There are some really good examples of local councils taking the initiative but it is clear that there is a lot of work to do in terms of reporting on what they are doing in this area.”

“As Councils provide the means for households in the UK to recycle their plastic waste, they need to be setting an example to the general public. They may actually be doing a good job but the picture is unclear as many do not hold the information or they simply didn’t respond to the freedom of information request.”

“Our report shows that the findings might be only the tip of the iceberg as the request only focussed on single-use plastic bottles and not other products such as plastic straws and bags.”

“There is a great opportunity for Councils to share best practice and make a real step change. Consumers cannot fight against avoidable plastic waste pollution alone. It is a collective responsibility of central and local Governments, employers, retailers, manufacturers, and education establishments.”