• Government announces next steps to ban the supply and sale of wet wipes containing plastic following overwhelming support during the consultation process
• World-leading legislation will be introduced this year to help tackle plastic pollution and clean up waterways
• Transition period set out for businesses to help them adapt

The UK Government will introduce new world-leading legislation to ban wet wipes containing plastic, the Environment Secretary has confirmed.

Defra intend to bring forward the legislation for England ahead of summer recess, with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales following by the autumn as part of an aligned approach to bring the ban into force.

Wet wipes containing plastic break down into microplastics over time, which research shows can be harmful to human health and disrupt our ecosystems – with a recent survey showing an average of 20 wet wipes were found per 100 metres of beach surveyed across the UK*.

Once in our water environment, wet wipes containing plastic can accumulate biological and chemical pollutants, increasing the risk of harm to the animals and humans who encounter them.

Banning them will reduce plastic and microplastic pollution and reduce the volume of microplastics entering wastewater treatment sites when wrongly flushed – meaning our beaches and waterways will benefit from the ban.

Responses to the public consultation showed overwhelming support for the proposed ban – which will be introduced via secondary legislation under our Environmental Protection Act 1990 – with 95% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with the proposals. The government’s response has been published today alongside the Welsh Government, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive.

Marking Earth Day 2024, with its theme of ‘Planet vs. Plastics’, the response sets out next steps to deliver the ban, building on action taken across the UK to tackle plastic pollution.

Link to Summary of responses and government response

Water UK says the ban is a step in the right direction, but that the Government should go further, and faster. Specifically:

1. Introduce a new regulatory standard for wet wipes to reduce the harm they cause, through changing their design and composition.
2. Accelerate the transition period for banning plastic containing wipes to 6 months.
3. Introduce mandatory ‘do not flush’ labelling on packaging and deliver on the promise made by Therese Coffey to tackle spurious claims of flushability.