Single-use plastic sachets should be banned, say environmental campaigners

'We have become slaves to the sachet', environmental group says

Environmental campaigners are calling for single-use plastic sachets to be banned.

On Wednesday, social impact group A Plastic Planet published an open letter urging the government to include sachets – used for everything from ketchup and vinegar to shampoo – in European and UK legislation which bans other “throwaway” items such as plastic straws and cotton buds.

In the letter, the group states that 855bn sachets are used every year globally – enough to cover the entire surface of the Earth – while many are thrown away without even being opened.

It adds that the sachets have fallen through a “legal loophole” and are causing untold damage to the planet.

“We have become slaves to the sachet,” the letter reads. “They are the ultimate symbol of our grab and go, addicted to convenience lifestyle. Uncollectable, unrecyclable and valueless, they pollute our planet at an increasing rate.”

The letter has been signed by more than 50 business leaders, politicians and campaigners including Iceland Foods’ managing director, Richard Walker, the Time Out group chief executive, Julio Bruno, and environmentalist Jonathon Porritt.

Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, which is leading the campaign, said: “In recent years governments and business have gone all out to enforce a ban on plastic straws, cotton buds and even bags.

“And yet the plastic sachet, the ultimate symbol of our grab and go, convenience-addicted lifestyle, has been virtually invisible to all. The result? Our Earth is saturated with these uncollectable, unrecyclable, contaminated, valueless little packets.

“It’s time to close the legal loophole. Now more than ever before we have to sack the sachet.”

It is estimated there is over 150 million tonnes of plastic waste polluting the world’s oceans and every year around a million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals die from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste.

A recent report estimates the quantity of plastic in the sea will treble by 2025.

According to consumer goods company Unilever – which owns brands such as Hellmann’s, Dove and Persil - multi-layer flexible sachets are difficult to recycle and “have little or no economic value”, meaning they leak into the environment.

However, the organisation is making attempts to tackle the issue with the introduction of its CreaSolv Sachet Recycling Plant which is designed to recover polyethylene, the material that accounts for more than 60 per cent of sachet layers.

David Blanchard, Unilever’s chief R&D officer, said: “Our aim is to develop a closed-loop system for sachets, so we can use them in future packaging. This will allow us to continue to provide consumers with the price and convenience of sachets, while tackling the environmental issues associated with their use.

“This is an exciting step in our efforts to develop new business models and solutions that will reduce our use of single-use plastics, and help make the packaging industry as a whole more sustainable.”

In May 2019, former environment secretary Michael Gove confirmed a ban on plastic straws, drinks stirrers, and plastic stemmed cotton buds in England, following overwhelming public support for the move.

The ban is expected to come into force in April 2020 and will include exemptions to ensure that those with medical needs or a disability are able to continue to access plastic straws.

“Urgent and decisive action is needed to tackle plastic pollution and protect our environment. These items are often used for just a few minutes but take hundreds of years to break down, ending up in our seas and oceans and harming precious marine life,” Gove said at the time.

“So today I am taking action to turn the tide on plastic pollution, and ensure we leave our environment in a better state for future generations.”