Bidfood has released a guide to support customers with the upcoming single-use plastic ban, which comes into effect on 1 October 2023.
The new regulations dictate that businesses must not sell single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls or cutlery, as well as polystyrene cups and food containers.
The wholesaler said the guide would help customers to source alternative products and promote recyclable plastics and their correct waste streams, as not all plastics are included in the ban.
In addition to the guide, Bidfood will provide support through a series of blogs and a dedicated webpage where readers can find information regarding the ban and access to support materials.
Plastic tax legislation was introduced last year, following a high-profile ban of plastic stirrers and straws in 2020.
It is estimated that England currently uses a total of 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery, and 721 million single-use plates per year.
It comes as the business recently partnered with award-winning sustainable packaging company Notpla, to add six seaweed-coated food-to-go packaging products to its range.
“The upcoming plastic ban needn’t feel like a big change for our customers as we have already been working in the background to present them with some great alternatives,” said Bidfood category and marketing manager for catering supplies Michaela Bateman.
“It’s our passion to support our customers with products that have a sustainable end-of-life solution that drives us as a team. Introducing a new generation of packaging like Notpla’s seaweed-lined boxes and Vegware’s paper cutlery will help them phase out unnecessary plastics.
“While the ban means the end of single-use plastics, we really want our guide to highlight the good, recyclable plastics too. As always, we want to provide a product that’s fit for purpose and with a guaranteed waste stream.
“There is a lot more work to do in the packaging world, but clearly legislation centred on sustainability is encouraging innovation and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for packaging and kitchen supplies.”
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