Plastic Cotton Swabs are now Banned in Scotland

Scotland has banned plastic-stemmed cotton swabs, in a move to help reduce plastic pollution in the country. Bits of plastic Q-tips get washed up onto beaches and are harmful to marine life and local animals.

‘This ban builds on work already underway to address Scotland’s throwaway culture,’ says Scotland’s environment secretary

The Marine Conservation Society praised the move as a "fantastic win" for the sea and wildlife, as Sky News reported. Over the last 25 years, the group says its volunteers have collected more than 150,000 plastic cotton bud sticks from Scottish beaches.

"I am proud that the Scottish government has become the first UK administration to ban plastic-stemmed cotton buds. Single-use plastic products are not only wasteful but generate unnecessary litter that blights our beautiful beaches and green spaces while threatening our wildlife on land and at sea." Roseanna Cunningham, environment secretary for Scotland said

Movement in the United States has been much slower, apart from companies like Johnson & Johnson taking steps to remove plastic from products. Unilever, producer of Q-tips, does not include plastic in its product.

According to government figures, approximately 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds are used in England on an annual basis.

"This ban builds on work already underway to address Scotland's throw-away culture, and we will continue to take action on other problematic items in the coming years as part of our efforts to reduce harmful plastics and single-use items, protect our environment and develop a thriving circular economy," said Cunningham, as Packaging News reported.

Scotland has adopted a Deposit Return Scheme that hopes to capture 90 percent of used glass and plastic bottles and aluminum cans. It will also ban plastic stirrers, cutlery, and polystyrene food and drink containers by next summer, as required by the EU.