A public consultation has found 72% of respondents are in favour of banning a number of single-use plastics in the island.

The consultation, published by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, sought views on plans to ban the sale and distribution of a range of single-use plastic.

Open from July to September 2021, it received just under 700 responses. DEFA has said ’there was strong support for market restrictions to be introduced on single-use plastics’ and on average, 92.9% were in favour of a ban on the items specified in the consultation paper.

These included plastic stemmed cotton buds, plastic cutlery, plastic plates and bowls, plastic straws, plastic carrier bags and polystyrene cups.

Some of those in favour of all the restrictions proposed that additional plastic items should be included in the ban.

There were concerns raised however regarding the implications of a ban on a number of these items for disabled people. DEFA outlined that some people with disabilities require such items for medical reasons and that other single-use plastic items are needed in a medical setting, such as plastic stemmed cotton buds. It listed some proposed exemptions to the regulations that provide for these needs, such as retail pharmacy businesses may supply single-use plastic straws on request but must not display or advertise them.

The item that received the lowest level of support was plastic carrier bags. Just over 88% of respondents agreed they should be banned but those who opposed it argued that single-use carrier bags can be used for other purposes and that ’a taxation rather than a ban would work better’.

DEFA said: ’Taxation is complex and alternatives to single-use carriers bags are cheap and readily available, and while they can be used for other purposes a large amount are either disposed of after one use or enter the environment.’

It noted that some respondents were concerned that viable and affordable alternatives were not available for some single-use plastic products. However, many local businesses have already made the choice to remove unnecessary single-use plastic items from their premises, said DEFA.