Almost one in four (37%) Brits want to stop the sale of single use plastic, according to a survey of 2000 people.
The survey, which was commissioned by Hello Hydrogen and shared with the publication Circular, asked 2,000 Brits what 25 things they would change.
Speaking to Circular, a spokesperson for Hello Hydrogen said: “From the end of single-use plastics and fast fashion to eradicating fossil fuels, it’s clear to see from the study, that the environment is important to modern Brits.”
“In fact, when asked, 76% of those surveys said addressing the climate risk is one of the most important changes we can make. Change doesn’t have to be negative.”
It comes after Defra introduced a new law calling on businesses to no longer sell certain single use items, including single-use cutlery and polystyrene food and drink containers due to begin in October.
In total people in England use around 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery alone, but only around 10% of the items are recycled.
Subscribe to Sustainability Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest sustainability news sent straight to your inbox everyday
According to Defra, previous bans, like banning straws, stirrers and cotton buds helped reduce the impact of pollution significantly – for example following the ban on cotton buds the items were moved out of the most commonly littered beach items.
In March climate NGO WRAP shared an action plan for retailers to reduce plastic which included selling more loose, uncut fruits and vegetables with a suggestion that should be comparably priced with other items.
Some businesses have opposed the ban on single use items, including Norfolk based firm Solinatra which produces biodegradable alternatives to single-use plastics.
Speaking to the BBC the firm’s co-founder said: “We were expecting a ban on single-use plastics – it’s the whole reason we were developing Solinatra”
“What we didn’t expect is that we would be caught up along with fossil based plastics”.
Previous incentives to encourage consumers to stop using have been successful, including charges on plastic bag sales in supermarkets which helped reduce their use by 98% in supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.
