England's single-use plastic ban: what you can no longer buy

If your takeaway increasingly hands you wooden forks and cardboard plates instead of plastic ones, that is the law, not a green fashion. Since October 2023, England has banned single-use plastics — items used once and thrown away. They can no longer be made or sold to customers.

What exactly is banned?

England has banned single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery (forks, knives, spoons), balloon sticks, and certain types of cups and food containers made of expanded polystyrene (the light white plastic often used for coffee cups and takeaway boxes). These items can no longer be bought from any business — not a shop, not a takeaway, not a hospitality venue.

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Who does the ban affect?

The ban applies to anyone selling or supplying such tableware in England: retailers, cafes, restaurants, food vans and delivery services. If a venue serves food on a single-use plastic plate or with a plastic fork, it is breaking the law. Businesses are therefore switching to alternatives — paper, wood, bagasse and other materials that break down faster. For customers it means plastic forks and polystyrene boxes should no longer appear at cafes and takeaways, and if they do, the venue is probably breaking the rules. Enforcement is handled by local councils, which can take action against businesses that ignore the ban.

Are there exemptions?

Yes. The ban does not cover plates, trays and bowls used as packaging for pre-packaged food — for example a plastic bowl holding a ready-made salad on a supermarket shelf, or a container filled with food at a counter. That packaging falls under a separate Extended Producer Responsibility scheme rather than the direct ban. It also matters that the ban applies in England: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own similar but separate rules, so the banned items and dates can differ across the UK.

Why does it matter?

The aim is to cut plastic waste that barely breaks down and ends up in nature and the ocean. Single-use items are used for minutes but last for years in the environment. For most people the change is most visible in cafes and takeaways: a plastic fork becomes a wooden one, a polystyrene cup becomes paper. Many chains have already switched, and some venues now charge for single-use packaging to encourage people to bring their own cup or container. That is lawful: charging for packaging is not banned, as long as it is not made of the prohibited plastic. Check the current rules and the full list of banned items on gov.uk, where the official version with exemptions is published.