Lidl, Superdrug and Wilko have become the final major high street retailers to commit to removing plastic from their own-label cotton buds.
The three retailers will join Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Boots in switching to more environmentally friendly alternatives next year to halt the damage to marine life.
The pledges follow the launch of a petition on campaign site 38 Degrees earlier this month, which has gained more than 150,000 signatures calling for retailers to switch to paper cotton buds.
Plastic buds can be fatal when eaten by marine life and can also create a plastic smog in the seas when they are broken down.
The petition’s author Natalie Fee, who is also founder of environmental campaign group City to Sea, said the fresh commitments from nine retailers was a “huge win” for her fight against plastic pollution. “We’re so happy that our petition spurred so many people into action and resulted in a clean sweep of all major UK retailers agreeing to switch from plastic to paper stem cotton buds,” she said.
Trish Murray, campaigner at 38 Degrees, added: “A big thanks to the retailers for listening to the overwhelming desire of so many of people. The changes they are making in 2017 will remove tonnes of plastic debris from our coastlines and protect wildlife and wild places for generations to come.”
The Co-op, Waitrose and M&S currently sell paper-stem buds and J&J committed to phasing out plastic from their products earlier this year.
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