Pledging to phase out non-recyclable plastics by 2030 is a bold statement by the Scottish Government which has rightly been welcomed by environmental campaigners.
Throwaway products such as food and drinks containers are blighting our seas and threatening wildlife. The EU announced its ambition to phase out single use plastics by 2030 this week and it’s significant that environment minister Roseanna Cunningham has followed suit. She wants to ensure Scotland is aligned to the bloc despite Brexit.
But leaving the EU means the UK won’t be bound by the EU’s environmental strategy, so work must be done to plug that gap and ensure every nation in the UK takes responsibility for the proliferation of plastics.
The environment minister has already announced a proposal to ban plastic cotton buds and now she has said other products will be looked at “item by item” in a bid to phase them out by 2030.
The UK government must match that commitment because time is running out in the battle against plastic waste, with campaigners warning Theresa May’s 25-year ambition is woolly.
We should heed the fact that the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is this week expected to make an announcement about the Doomsday Clock, a metaphorical timepiece used to demonstrate how close humanity is to being wiped out.
It currently sits at two and a half minutes to midnight and the expectation is environmental concerns and the threat of nuclear war will see it brought forward to the most precarious position since 1953.
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