The coalition calls for “total ban” on the use, sale and distribution of conventional non-biodegradable plastics in UK. Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Bio-Based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA) is supporting a UK trade associations coalition’s call for a ban on oxodegradables.

Other members of the coalition include the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA), the Environmental Services Association (ESA), the Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA), the REA, Greenpeace, A Plastic Planet and Recoup.

The coalition has sent a letter to Environment Secretary George Eustice demanding a “total ban” on conventional non-biodegradable plastics in the country.

These plastic materials, which have additives, speed-up the breakdown of plastics into microplastics.

The coalition is urging the UK Government to continue with the European Union’s (EU) Single Use Plastics Directive even after it leaves the EU.

The Directive applies to single-use plastic products such as cutlery, plates, straws, stirrers and more, products made from oxo-degradable plastic and to fishing gear containing plastic.

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The coalition in the letter said: “The ban on the use of oxo additives regards not just the EU. The USA also has effectively stopped the sale of such additives by adjudging that the use of marketing terms such as biodegradable for plastics using these additives is considered misleading. Companies have been fined for using such terms and as a result these additives are not used in the USA.”

In 2017, a coalition led by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation called for a ban on oxodegradables.

In March this year, BBIA released a statement voicing its disagreement with Tesco’s updated packaging guidelines, which outline what materials the company will accept as packaging.