Following the single-use plastic ban – which came into force in England on 01 October 2023 – the Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) is asking why online retailers such as Amazon and eBay are still offering banned items for sale, and who is policing them to ensure the ban is enforced?
More than 20 days after the ban was introduced, banned items including plastic bowls, trays, plates, cutlery, balloon sticks, and Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) and Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) items – such as drink cups and food boxes – are still being openly sold direct to the public by Amazon, eBay, office suppliers and others.
While single-use plastic plates, bowls and trays may still be sold to businesses for use as packaging – on none of the reviewed websites is the sale of these items restricted to businesses.
EPS and XPS foamed cups and boxes, together with plastic cutlery, are banned without exemptions, so these items must not be offered for sale to either...
