Plastic cotton buds to be withdrawn by Tesco and Sainsbury’s

The supermarkets will replace the plastic stems with paper ones in all own-brand products

The supermarkets will replace the plastic stems with paper ones in all own-brand products

A great initiative was taken by Tesco and Sainsbury’s, UK’s largest supermarket chains, as they committed to stop selling cotton buds with plastic stems in an effort to eliminate plastic waste. Being the most common litter from toilets flushed on to the country’s beaches, the plastic sticks will be replaced with paper ones. The decision will apply to their own-brand products and will be effective by the end of 2017. A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said: “We have been working hard to improve this product. Our new cotton buds, with 100% biodegradable stems, will be available before the end of 2017.”

Other major companies, including Morrisons, Asda and Boots, are currently considering a plastic ban, while Waitrose, the Co-operative and Johnson & Johnson have already committed to paper stems. A petition has also been raised to support this cause. 

“We’re delighted with the announcements to ‘switch the stick’ from plastic to paper stem buds. Whilst they still shouldn’t be flushed, this move will stop millions of plastic stems ending up in the marine environment each year and is a huge win in the fight against marine plastic pollution”, said Natalie Fee, founder of the City to Sea campaign.

“These are great commitments from Tesco and Sainsbury’s, but we’d like to see much more prominent ‘don’t flush’ labelling on cotton bud sticks,” said Emma Cunningham at the Marine Conservation Society. “We found over 23 [plastic] cotton bud sticks on every 100m of beaches we cleaned in September. The message is clear: only pee, poo and paper should go down the loo.”

Source: The Guardian