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To: The Environment Minister & Chancellor of the Exchequer

Introduce a tax (levy) on throwaway plastic

Introduce a visible tax on throwaway (single use) plastic. This should happen at the point of sale like the current plastic bag charge.

Why is this important?

The UK produces billions of pieces of throwaway plastics such as plastic straws, plastic cutlery, plastic cups and coffee cups every year. Yet a huge percentage of these are not recycled - instead they end up littering our streets, our beaches and washing out to sea where they pollute our oceans and harm marine wildlife, which we then end up consuming!

One of the most effective solutions is to introduce a small tax on throwaway items (straws, cups, cutlery, takeaway boxes, coffee cups, beer cups) at the point of sale. This has been incredibly successful with plastic carrier bags, where a small 5p charge has resulted in a reduction of over 80% in use in supermarkets.

The tax collected should be ring-fenced for investment in anti-pollution strategies and solutions that work towards a circular economy where ‘waste’ is designed out of our system.

In the recent budget, the government announced that they would investigate the possibility of bringing in a plastic tax to the UK, but nothing's confirmed yet. Please sign the petition to show your support for the idea, and help stop plastic pollution at source.

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Updates

2018-04-23 21:27:26 +0100

200,000 signatures reached

2018-01-10 19:01:06 +0000

150,000 signatures reached

2017-12-04 20:54:43 +0000

100,000 signatures reached

2017-12-02 10:20:58 +0000

50,000 signatures reached

2017-11-30 21:08:39 +0000

20,000 signatures reached

2017-11-30 19:32:59 +0000

10,000 signatures reached

2017-11-30 19:00:15 +0000

5,000 signatures reached

2017-11-30 16:48:57 +0000

1,000 signatures reached

2017-11-30 16:41:11 +0000

500 signatures reached

2017-11-30 16:36:55 +0000

100 signatures reached

2017-11-30 16:36:20 +0000

50 signatures reached

2017-11-30 16:35:59 +0000

25 signatures reached

2017-11-30 16:35:06 +0000

10 signatures reached