Edinburgh West Lib Dem Christine Jardine has welcomed a raft of policies announced by her party as part of a radical plan to end the UK’s problem with plastic pollution.

These policies include:

-        Requiring all retailers to reduce the amount of plastics and non-recyclable packing they use

-        Implementing a UK-wide deposit return scheme

-        Ending plastic exports abroad by 2030

Ms Jardine commented:

“The UK produces 2.26 million tonnes of plastic packaging every year, but less than half of this is being recycled. The Liberal Democrats demand better for our environment. We need a rapid plan to eliminate plastic pollution if our seas are to recover from the damage we’ve done.

“We need to tackle our throw-away culture by providing incentives to reduce, reuse and recycle. This includes a plastic bottle return scheme, plastic-free aisles in supermarkets, and reduced plastic packaging on all products.

“Earlier this year I took part in a plastic-free lent challenge and was astounded by how difficult it is to shop, particularly in supermarkets, plastic-free.

“We need to make big changes and I welcome these proposals by the Liberal Democrats to reduce the amount of plastic waste the UK produces.”