Scotland has passed new laws banning environmentally damaging single-use plastic items. This means that sellers of such products will need to ensure they don’t supply Scottish customers to avoid breaking the law. This ban comes into effect on the 1st of June 2022
We are turning promise into action and banning some of the most problematic single-use plastic items in Scotland. Every year, hundreds of millions of pieces of single-use plastic are wasted in this country. They litter our coasts, pollute our oceans and contribute to the climate emergency. That has to end and this ban will be another step forward in the fight against plastic waste and throwaway culture.
– Lorna Slater, MSP & Circular Economy Minister
eBay have announced that after this time it will be an offence to supply the following products on eBay:
- Plastic cutlery (forks, knives, spoons, chopsticks) plates, straws, beverage stirrers and balloon sticks
- Food containers made of expanded polystyrene
- Cups and other beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene, including their covers and lids
All sellers need to comply with this new legislation by reviewing their inventory and by removing non-compliant listings on eBay by the 1st of June 2022. It appears that eBay have a blanket ban that affects the entire UK rather than the (much more tricky to implement) ban on supplying customers in Scotland.
Scotland’s Circular Economy Minister does accept that the ban is at risk from the UK Internal Market Act, which effectively exempts any items that are produced in or imported via another part of the UK. She has stated that she is writing to the UK government to ask that they take the necessary steps to ensure the integrity of the ban.
If you do have stocks left, our advice would be to slash prices and pop the relevant single-use plastic items on sale. It’ll be much more difficult to liquidate your inventory after the ban takes effect and certainly similar measures will come to most countries around the world in the near future.
