The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) this month (July 17) published draft legislation revealing plans to ban plastic in wet wipes in England.
The legislation, which closed for consultation yesterday (July 31), seeks to ban the supply and sale of wet wipes containing plastic to prevent “pollution of the environment and harm to the health of animals”.
It would make it an offence to supply or offer to supply them “in the course of a business”, punishable by a fine of £200 or a “compliance notice” setting out steps to ensure no repetition.
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However, the legislation sets out that the ban “does not apply to a retail pharmacy business that supplies wet wipes containing plastic” where they are supplied at a registered pharmacy or “by means of online or other distance selling arrangements”.
Pharmacies must abide by certain conditions under the exemption, including that plastic-containing wet wipes must not be advertised to customers, kept in a place “where they are visible” or accessible to them or offered or provided to them unless “requested”, it said.
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But the ban on advertising plastic wet wipes “does not prohibit the display of wet wipes containing plastic for sale on a website or application through which the retail pharmacy business sells products online”, it added.
The draft legislation also exempts supply for medical purposes “by or under the direction of a healthcare professional” - including for preventative medicine, diagnosis, research and the provision of medical care - supply to business and supply to local authorities from the ban.
The new regulations will come into force “18 months after the day on which they are made” and apply to England only, the document said.
“Reverse” exemption plans
But environmental charity Thames21 this week (July 29) urged the government to ensure pharmacies are also banned from the sale of plastic-based wet wipes.
It said that “plastic containing wet wipes should not be sold online at pharmacies to help protect the River Thames, rivers across the UK and the world’s oceans”.
The charity has worked with volunteers and partners to collect more than 142,000 wet wipes from the Thames foreshore – flushed down toilets and dumped into the river by sewage overflows - since 2017, it added.
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“We are urging the government to reverse its plans for an exemption for pharmacies to sell plastic-based wet wipes online,” a Thames21 spokesperson said.
The government must “take decisive action to encourage manufacturers, retailers and consumers to shift towards reusable and non-plastic products”, they added.
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“We no longer want to see these items blighting our local environment and introducing microplastics into them - this sewage-based plastic pollution also finds its way into the world’s oceans, harming wildlife and people,” they said.
Boots UK announced in 2022 that it had committed to replacing all wet wipes containing plastic fibres with biodegradable alternatives by the end of the year.
The health and beauty giant eliminated plastics from its own-brand wet wipe ranges in 2021 and called on other brands and retailers across the UK to follow suit.
