Plastics straws, stirrers and cotton buds are to be banned in England from April next year in a move campaigners have welcomed but warned will 'only scratch the surface' in tackling the damage that non-degradable waste is doing to the environment.

This comes after campaigns from Sir David Attenborough and the UN calling for a huge reduction in plastic waste that cannot decompose.

Many are calling for businesses and retailers to do more to help tackle the growing threat of plastic pollution, with Ubamarket's latest research showing that 57% of Brits think that plastic pollution is the single greatest threat to life and the environment in modern history.

Ubamarket, the innovative retail app, has commissioned nationally representative research across a sample of 2003 UK adults to find out how Brits feel about the amount of plastic packaging we encounter in our day to day life.

The findings are as follows:
• 82% - nearly 43 million - of UK shoppers believe the level of plastic packaging on food and drink products needs to be changed drastically
• Despite younger generations being thought of as more environmentally concerned, those aged 55+ were significantly more concerned with plastic use on food and drink products, 90% of them stating the level was totally unnecessary and in need of immediate change
• 57% (29,926,575) think that plastic pollution is the single greatest threat to life and the environment in modern history
• Again, the older generations identified with this the most, 63% confirming that plastic pollution was of paramount importance to them
• 77% of Brits, representing more than 40 million nationally, think that, no matter how much they recycle, they feel it is the manufactures and supermarkets that are causing the most plastic pollution
• 44% of respondents, representing 22,724,436 nationally, actively purchased products that have less of an impact on the environment, even if they were more expensive
• 36%, or 18.7 million nationally, stated that they won’t purchase from retailers and companies that are known to have poor environmental standards around their packaging
• 42% - 21.7 million nationally - of the British public want to be more environmentally conscious but feel they do not know enough about recycling and plastic pollution to make informed changes
• 41% of respondents, representing 21.6 million nationally, believe that plastic packaging is having an adverse effect on their health
• 65%, or 33.8 million nationally, want to make the switch to more environmentally friendly products but feel that these products are often significantly more expensive

Will Broome, CEO of Ubamarket, commented, 'This year the war on plastics is one that, thankfully, doesn't seem to be dying out. As consumers demand change at both a corporate and policy level, the government will have no choice but to implement changes nationally.

'The true scale of waste and plastic content of products has previously been shielded, however, in this current climate, this is no longer possible.

'Ubamarket's new technology 'Plastic Alerts' allows shoppers to make the right choices by displaying how much recyclable plastic is in their supermarket products and truly utilise their purchase power for good.'

(source: Ubamarket, image: pixabay)