New laws in Scotland are now banning the sale and manufacture of plastic-stemmed cotton buds.
The new law came into law after high concerns about the number of cotton-buds being flushed down the toilets and the number of cotton-buds washing up on beaches.
Months before the ban came into law, major companies that manufacture cotton-buds ended up switching to paper-stemmed cotton buds.
This is not the only law that will be coming into law in the upcoming months.
In the rest of the United Kingdom, plastic straws and stirrers are going to be banned.
The Marine Conservation Society considers plastic-stemmed cotton buds as one of the most forms of beach litter.
In the United Kingdom alone, nearly 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds are sold every year.
2-years-ago, Johnson and Johnson, a pharmaceutical company, was the first major manufacturer to switch to paper-stemmed cotton buds.
All major supermarkets have now pleaded to switch to biodegradable paper.
Fidra, an environmental charity based in Scotland, has been at the forefront of working with the industry to promote more biodegradable alternatives.
Environment activists are calling this law change as“great news” for wildlife and the environment.
Heather McFarlane, the project manager of Fidra, said, “Now we are seeing this ban come into place, that will pick up those last few retailers and manufacturers who haven’t made the switch from plastic to paper. The plastic cotton bids have been washing up on beaches for years and they get into the environment is quite high numbers.”
Heather added, “They are particularly damaging to wildlife. They have been found in our native bird populations and in the intestines of turtles. You can just imagine the damage that can do.”
Kang Banks, the Scotland WWF Director, said, “Cotton buds are some of the most pervasive forms of marine pollution, so a ban is a very welcome step and one that we hope other countries will follow. We know plastic is suffocating our seas and devastating our wildlife with millions of birds, fish, and mammals dying each year because of the plastic in our oceans.”
Kang added, “Plastics are also finding their way into the food we eat and the water we drink, so saving our oceans will require further ambitious action from governments, industry, and consumers.”
This new ban plays a huge role in our current fight with global warming.