# England and Wales ban the same core plastic items, but trays, lids, bags and wet wipes split the two nations

> Since October 2023 both nations have banned single-use plastic plates, cutlery, balloon sticks and foamed polystyrene takeaway containers and cups, alongside straws, stirrers and cotton buds; England exempts plates, trays and bowls that are packaging, Wales bans plastic wet wipes from 18 December 2026 against 19 May 2027 in England, and Wales's bans on polystyrene lids, thin plastic carrier bags and oxo-degradable plastic are written into law but still have no start date.

Publisher: Strategic Packaging Insights  
Published: 2026-10-26  
Last updated: 2026-10-26  
Page: https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/england-wales-single-use-plastic-bans-packaging/

**Since October 2023 both nations have banned single-use plastic plates, cutlery, balloon sticks and foamed polystyrene takeaway containers and cups, alongside straws, stirrers and cotton buds; England exempts plates, trays and bowls that are packaging, Wales bans plastic wet wipes from 18 December 2026 against 19 May 2027 in England, and Wales's bans on polystyrene lids, thin plastic carrier bags and oxo-degradable plastic are written into law but still have no start date.**

Strategic Packaging Insights (SPI) read both nations' laws, the government guidance and the matching rules in the SPI Regulation Tracker, which holds 79 packaging rules. The result is a short list of items that changed for good in 2023, and a longer list of edge cases, mostly packaging, where the answer depends on which side of the border the customer is and whether the item is filled before it is sold.

## Executive summary

England and Wales took different legal routes to almost the same ban. England used regulations under the Environmental Protection Act 1990: SI 2020/971 for straws, stirrers and cotton buds from 1 October 2020, and SI 2023/982 for plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks and foamed polystyrene food and drink containers and cups from 1 October 2023. Wales passed a single Act of the Senedd, the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Act 2023, and brought most of its list into force on 30 October 2023 (WSI 2023/1149).

For a takeaway, a café or a convenience store, the core change is done. Plastic cutlery and polystyrene clamshells and cups for ready-to-eat food have been unlawful to supply to the public in both nations for three years. The live questions now sit at the edges: whether a tray or bowl counts as packaging, whether a paper item has a plastic lining, and what happens to lids, bags and wipes.

Four differences matter for packaging. England's plate, tray and bowl ban does not apply to items that are packaging, and Defra's guidance names pre-filled, filled-in-store and delivery trays as examples; Wales lists plates with no exemption and has no tray or bowl entry. Wales lists polystyrene lids, carrier bags of plastic film up to 49 microns and every oxo-degradable plastic product, but the Welsh Government said on 11 February 2026 that these Phase 2 bans could not be brought in this Senedd term and gave no new date. England charges at least 10p for a single-use carrier bag and bans none. And wet wipes containing plastic leave Welsh shelves on 18 December 2026, 152 days before England's ban on 19 May 2027.

Enforcement is local in both nations. In England, councils can impose a £200 fixed monetary penalty, reduced to £100 if paid within 28 days, or prosecute for a fine. In Wales the offence is tried in the magistrates' court, which can impose a fine with no stated maximum, and SPI has found no fixed penalty amount in force.

For leaders, three moves matter. Classify every tray, bowl, plate and lid by material and by whether it is filled before or at sale; treat Welsh delivery addresses as a separate market; and plan wet wipes ranges to the Welsh date, not the English one.

## Key findings

1. England's ban on single-use plastic plates, trays and bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks and foamed polystyrene food and drink containers and cups has applied since 1 October 2023, the twenty-fourth day after SI 2023/982 was made on 7 September 2023 (legislation.gov.uk).
2. England's plate, tray and bowl ban "does not apply to the supply of a single-use plastic plate, tray or bowl that is packaging" (regulation 3(2)); Defra lists a tray used to deliver food and a plate filled at the counter among the examples (GOV.UK, updated 7 October 2024).
3. Wales's Phase 1 list has applied since 30 October 2023, but its entries for lids, carrier bags and oxo-degradable plastic were held back by WSI 2023/1149, and on 11 February 2026 the Welsh Government said it was "no longer viable" to secure the UK Internal Market Act exclusion in time this Senedd term.
4. Wet wipes containing plastic are banned in Wales from 18 December 2026 (WSI 2025/716) and in England from 19 May 2027 (SI 2025/1218), a gap of 152 days; both exempt medical uses.
5. In England a banned item can draw a £200 fixed monetary penalty, or £100 if paid within 28 days, and carrier bag breaches carry fixed penalties of £200 or £100 and variable penalties of up to £5,000 or £20,000 (SI 2023/982; GOV.UK, updated 12 June 2026).
6. Main retailers in England sold 126 million single-use carrier bags in the year to 6 April 2026, down 23% on the year and 90% on 2016 to 2017 (Defra, 30 July 2026). **SPI calculation:**  at the 10p minimum that is at least £12.6 million charged.

## Two laws, one list

The English and Welsh bans look alike because both follow the list in the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, (EU) 2019/904, which the UK helped shape before it left the EU. Article 5 of the Directive requires Member States to "prohibit the placing on the market of the single-use plastic products listed in Part B of the Annex", and Part B names cotton bud sticks, cutlery, plates, straws, beverage stirrers, balloon sticks, and food containers, beverage containers and cups made of expanded polystyrene (EUR-Lex). Article 17 applied that ban from 3 July 2021 ([PR-EU-014](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/european-union/pr-eu-014/)).

Neither nation copied the Directive word for word. England bans supply "to an end user", which excludes supply to a business that resupplies the item or uses it in manufacturing (SI 2023/982, regulations 2 and 3). Wales bans supply to a "consumer", an individual acting wholly or mainly outside a trade or profession, and its 2026 statutory guidance says plainly that business-to-business supply is not caught (Welsh Government, WG54560). Both definitions put the duty on whoever hands the item to the public, which in food service is the outlet, not the packaging supplier.

The EU column is a benchmark, not a rule that applies. The SPI rule note for England ([PR-GB-006](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-006/)) records that the Directive does not apply in England after EU exit, and the same holds for Wales. What it shows is the direction of travel: the EU banned oxo-degradable plastic in 2021 and will add extruded polystyrene from 1 January 2030, which Commission Notice C/2026/3084 says "will apply from 1 January 2030" with no transposition needed. England already covers extruded polystyrene that has been foamed, and Wales lists oxo-degradable plastic without having switched it on.

SPI analysis

For a business that sells in both nations, the safest working list is the union of the two. That means no plastic plates of any kind in Welsh consumer sales, no non-packaging plastic trays or bowls in England, no foamed polystyrene containers or cups in either, and a plan for lids, bags and wipes on Welsh dates.

## England: what SI 2023/982 bans and what it leaves alone

SI 2023/982 has three offences: supplying single-use plastic plates, trays or bowls (regulation 3), balloon sticks and cutlery (regulation 4), and polystyrene food and drink containers and cups (regulation 5), in each case "in the course of a business" (legislation.gov.uk). Each offence covers offering to supply as well as supplying, which brings web listings and menu displays into scope. The regulations extend to England and Wales but "apply in relation to England only" (regulation 1(3)).

The definitions decide most cases (Exhibit 3). Plastic is a polymer that can work as a main structural component, "with the exception of natural polymers that have not been chemically modified" (regulation 2). A plate, tray, bowl or cutlery item is caught if it is made "wholly or partly from plastic" and is not designed or intended to be re-used. Defra's guidance adds that biodegradable, compostable and recycled plastic are all covered, as are items only partly made of plastic (GOV.UK, updated 7 October 2024).

Two details in Exhibit 3 matter more than they look. The container and cup definitions both read "with or without a lid or cover", so a polystyrene lid supplied as part of a foamed container or cup is inside the English ban. And regulation 3(3) makes the tray and bowl ban "subject, in respect of a tray or bowl, to section 2 of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020". The SPI rule note for [PR-GB-006](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-006/) records that a 2022 instrument under that Act exempts most of these items from its market access principles but not trays and bowls. SPI has not assessed how that applies to any specific product; check with counsel.

The earlier English rules still run alongside. SI 2020/971 restricts single-use plastic straws and stemmed cotton buds and bans plastic drink stirrers; it was made on 10 September 2020 and came into force on the twenty-first day after, 1 October 2020, which Suffolk Trading Standards confirms as the start of the straw ban. A separate prohibition on drinks products sold with a plastic straw attached to the packaging applied from 3 July 2021 (legislation.gov.uk). Catering outlets may still give a plastic straw with food or drink for immediate consumption, but only if straws are kept out of sight, given only on request and not offered verbally or in writing (GOV.UK, Single-use plastics bans and restrictions).

## The packaging test for plates, trays and bowls

England's exemption turns on one word: packaging. Regulation 3(5) gives it the meaning in the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2015, and Defra's guidance turns that into examples (Exhibit 4). "Businesses can supply single-use plastic plates, bowls and trays if either of the following apply", the guidance says: the business is supplying another business, or "the items are packaging, pre-filled or filled at the point of sale".

The exemption moves the same item between two regimes. SPI's [PR-GB-006](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-006/) note records that a tray or bowl that escapes the ban as packaging is then reportable packaging under UK packaging EPR ([PR-GB-002](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-002/)), with fees set by recyclability. So the commercial question for a ready meal tray is not whether it is legal, but what it costs under EPR and Plastic Packaging Tax, which the [UK tracker page](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/) sets out rule by rule.

Wales draws the line differently. Its Schedule lists plates with no exemption and has no entry for trays or bowls, while its takeaway food container entry, "a receptacle other than a plate (for example a bowl, box, cone, or tray)", is caught only if made of expanded or foamed extruded polystyrene. A plastic delivery tray is therefore outside both nations' bans, but a plastic plate filled at a Welsh counter has no listed exemption. SPI has not yet confirmed whether Welsh guidance treats a pre-filled plate as outside the ban; the 2026 statutory guidance does not address it.

In practice: ALDI UK.

The SPI Packaging Buyers Database records ALDI UK with 1,092 stores in October 2026 and 110,305.88 tonnes of own-label primary plastic in 2023, and notes that the plates, cutlery and polystyrene containers it sells fall under [PR-GB-006](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-006/) and [PR-GB-007](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-007/). For a grocer, the practical split is that ready meal and salad trays stay as packaging, while party plates, bowls and cutlery sold as products must be non-plastic in both nations, and plastic plates must not be sold to Welsh shoppers at all.

## Wales: a longer list, half switched on

The Welsh Act defines the problem more widely than England. A plastic product is one whose main structural components are "made wholly or partly of plastic", or one "that has a lining or coating made wholly or partly of plastic" (section 1(2)). Plastic excludes adhesives, paints and inks and natural polymers that have not been chemically modified (section 1(4) and (5)). The Schedule lists 11 entries, and wet wipes were added as a twelfth by WSI 2025/716 (Exhibit 5).

Three features make the Welsh list harder for packaging teams than England's. First, the lid entry bans polystyrene lids only, but polystyrene of any kind, not just foamed. Second, the carrier bag entry reaches a bag only if it is single-use plastic, and section 1(6) deems a bag designed for repeated use unless it is "made of plastic film no greater than 49 microns in thickness". Third, the oxo-degradable entry applies "whether or not" the product appears elsewhere in the table or would otherwise be exempt.

None of those three is in force. WSI 2023/1149, made on 26 October 2023, commenced the Schedule "save for the entries" for lids, carrier bags and oxo-degradable products, and the legislation.gov.uk status page lists no second commencement order up to 26 October 2026. The Welsh Government's written statement of 11 February 2026 explains why: the remaining bans need an exclusion under the UK Internal Market Act 2020, agreed with the other UK governments through the Common Frameworks, and that could not be done in time this Senedd term. Business Wales had already said on 13 February 2026 that the remaining bans would not come before spring 2026.

The offence is wide. Section 5, as recorded in SPI's [PR-GB-007](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-007/) note, treats display or keeping a product within reach as an offer, makes the supplier answer for employees and agents, and treats arranging delivery to an address in Wales as supply there, wherever the seller is. As SPI reads the Schedule, a caterer in England that delivers food on plastic plates to a Welsh address is inside the Welsh offence, while the same delivery to an English address falls within England's packaging exemption; check with counsel for a specific case.

SPI analysis

Wales's Phase 2 list is a planning problem rather than a compliance one. A packaging team that waits for a commencement order may get months of notice, or less; the Act gives no fixed lead time. The cheaper course is to know today which lids are polystyrene, which bags are 49 microns or thinner, and whether any film, bag or agricultural product carries an oxo-degradable additive.

## A framework: four exposure groups

The two nations' lists sort every item a food service or retail business supplies into four groups, set by whether each nation bans it now (Exhibit 6). The groups come from SPI's tracker rules [PR-GB-006](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-006/) and [PR-GB-007](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-007/) and the instruments above, and each group calls for a different action.

**Group A, settled in both.**  The risk here is no longer the obvious item but the hidden plastic. England counts items "wholly or partly" plastic, Wales counts plastic linings and coatings, and the EU's 2021 guidelines, summarised in SPI's [PR-EU-014](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/european-union/pr-eu-014/) note, treat a plastic-lined paper plate as a single-use plastic product. A board plate with a plastic barrier layer, or a wooden fork with a plastic coating, is still inside the ban.

**Group B, border cases.**  A non-packaging plastic bowl can be sold to a Welsh shopper but not to an English one; a plastic plate filled at the counter can be used in England but has no listed exemption in Wales. Businesses with outlets or customers in both nations either run two ranges or adopt the stricter rule everywhere.

**Group C, Wales first.**  Wet wipes are the one product where the later English date could tempt a business to keep a single range until May 2027. In Wales that range becomes unlawful to supply to consumers from 18 December 2026.

**Group D, listed, pending.**  No offence exists yet, but the Act already fixes the scope, so the inventory work can be done before any date is set.

## Carrier bags: a charge in both, a ban in neither yet

Carrier bags are handled by price, not prohibition, in both nations today (Exhibit 7). In England, SI 2021/598 raised the minimum charge "from 5 pence to 10 pence" and extended the duty to all sellers of goods from 21 May 2021. Defra's guidance, updated on 12 June 2026, says retailers "must charge a minimum of 10 pence for single-use carrier bags in England", for unused plastic bags 70 microns thick or less with handles and an opening.

The English charge has cut bag sales sharply. Main retailers sold 126 million single-use carrier bags in the year from 7 April 2025 to 6 April 2026, down 23% from 164 million a year earlier and 90% from 1,327 million in 2016 to 2017, and all 94 reporting retailers sold 399 million (Exhibit 8). Defra's 30 July 2026 release says "there has been a decrease of 98% in the annual number of single-use carrier bags sold by the main retailers", measured against the 7.64 billion that WRAP reported for 2014.

In practice: the English carrier bag charge.

Defra's 2025 to 2026 summary records 94 reporting retailers, two of them voluntary, and £8.7 million donated to good causes by the 30 that reported donations, with more than £234 million donated since the charge began. **SPI calculation:**  126 million bags at the 10p minimum is at least £12.6 million charged by main retailers in the year, and 399 million bags is at least £39.9 million across all reporting retailers, before any retailer's choice to charge more. The 2024 to 2025 year had shown a 6% rise, to 164 million, so the series is not a straight line down.

SPI analysis

The Welsh bag ban, if commenced, would bite on a narrower set of bags than the English charge. England charges for plastic bags up to 70 microns; Wales would ban plastic film bags up to 49 microns. A bag between 50 and 70 microns would still be charged in England and could still be sold in Wales, where it would be deemed designed for repeated use. Suppliers that make bags for both nations should know which side of 49 microns each line sits.

## Wet wipes: two bans, 152 days apart

Wet wipes are not packaging, but they are sold on the same shelves and by the same retailers, and they are the next date in both nations (Exhibit 9). Wales acted first. WSI 2025/716, made on 18 June 2025, adds "wet wipes" to the Welsh Schedule from 18 December 2026, defined as "a non-woven piece of fabric which has been pre-wetted", with an exemption for wipes "designed or manufactured for use in connection with medical care or treatment".

England's instrument, SI 2025/1218, was made on 18 November 2025 and comes into force on 19 May 2027, 18 months later. It bans supplying or offering to supply wet wipes containing plastic to an end user, with exemptions for registered pharmacies, medical use and supply to a business or local authority for its own purposes, and the same £200 fixed penalty as SI 2023/982 (legislation.gov.uk). Defra's release of 18 November 2025 cites UK Water Industry Research finding that wet wipes contribute to 94% of sewer blockages, at a cost to water companies of about £200 million a year.

The EU treats the same product differently. Wet wipes, "i.e. pre-wetted personal care and domestic wipes", sit in Part D of the Directive's Annex for marking and Part E for extended producer responsibility, not in the Part B ban list (EUR-Lex). A brand selling wipes in Great Britain and the EU therefore needs a plastic-free wipe for Wales from December 2026 and England from May 2027, and a marked, EPR-registered product where plastic wipes remain lawful in the EU.

## Enforcement and penalties, in sterling

Both nations enforce through local authorities, normally Trading Standards, but with different tools (Exhibit 10). England gives councils civil sanctions on top of prosecution. Wales relies on prosecution, with test purchases, entry and inspection powers in sections 7 to 13 of the Act.

The English fixed penalty is modest per item but quick. Under SI 2023/982 a council can serve a notice of intent and accept £100 if paid within 28 days, or impose £200; Defra's carrier bag guidance adds that its fixed penalties are halved if paid within 28 days and raised by 50% if unpaid after 56 days. Defra's guidance on the plastics ban warns that "If you break the law, you could be fined and ordered to cover the cost of the investigation", and says an appeal is likely to succeed where a business shows it took all reasonable steps.

Wales has the power to add civil sanctions but, as far as SPI has found, has not used it. Section 17 of the Act, which lets the Welsh Ministers create civil sanctions by regulations, came into force the day after Royal Assent under section 22(1), on 7 June 2023 (legislation.gov.uk status page). SPI has found no regulations made under it. The 2026 statutory guidance says civil sanctions may apply instead of prosecution; SPI has not yet confirmed an instrument that sets their amounts.

Both nations offer a due diligence defence. SPI's notes record regulation 6 of SI 2023/982, which lets a business rely on a supplier's information where reliance was reasonable, and section 5(7) of the Welsh Act, a defence where all due diligence and all reasonable precautions were taken. That makes supplier material declarations the cheapest form of protection a buyer can hold.

## Scenarios: what a breach costs

SPI ran three simple cases for a chain of 20 outlets in England, each found supplying a banned item once, using only the amounts in the instruments (Exhibit 11). The outlet count is an SPI assumption for illustration, and each case assumes one penalty per outlet; a council decides how many offences it pursues.

**SPI calculation:**  at the base case, the penalty for 20 outlets equals the 10p charge on 40,000 carrier bags, which shows how small the per-item fine is next to the reputational and stock cost of a recall. The weight sits in the uncapped prosecution route and in investigation costs, which the guidance says can be recovered, neither of which can be priced from the texts.

In practice: McDonald's UK.

The SPI Packaging Buyers Database records 1,507 McDonald's restaurants in the UK at the end of 2025 and notes that its UK plastic cups are made from 100% recycled material, with fibre bags and cartons reportable under packaging EPR and England's [PR-GB-006](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-006/) ban applying since 1 October 2023. For an operator of that size, the single-use plastic bans are a settled baseline; the open items are lids, where Wales's polystyrene entry is pending, and the dine-in reuse rules that the SPI Ledger piece on [quick-service restaurant packaging](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/quick-service-restaurant-packaging-mcdonalds-reuse-rules/) sets out for the EU.

## What each part of the chain must change

The duties fall on the business that supplies the public, but the evidence has to come from the packaging supply chain (Exhibit 12).

SPI analysis

The packaging supplier is the one role with no offence and the most influence. Because both nations allow sales to businesses, a wholesaler can lawfully stock a banned item, and the risk passes to the outlet that hands it over. Suppliers that state polymer, lining, coating and film thickness on every specification make their customers' due diligence defence easier, and that is a selling point in both nations.

## Industry reaction

> "This ban will put an end to plastic wet wipes which choke our sewers, litter our beaches and poison wildlife."

***Emma Reynolds, Environment Secretary** , Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, [New law bans plastic wet wipes to protect rivers and seas](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-law-bans-plastic-wet-wipes-to-protect-rivers-and-seas), 18 November 2025*

The release says businesses have an 18-month transition period and that a ban on manufacture will be considered once the supply and sale ban is in force.

> "We remain committed to seeing polystyrene lids for cups or takeaway food containers, plastic single-use carrier bags or products made of oxo-degradable plastic banned and are working to achieve that as soon as possible."

***Huw Irranca-Davies, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs** , Welsh Government, [Written Statement on the Phase 2 bans](https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-update-implementing-environmental-protection-single-use-plastic-products-wales), 11 February 2026*

The same statement confirms the wet wipes date: "From 18 December 2026, the SUPP Act will also restrict the supply of wet wipes containing plastic."

> "Only polystyrene that has been through a foaming process is in the scope of this ban."

***Defra** , UK environment department, [Single-use plastics ban: plates, bowls, trays, containers, cutlery and balloon sticks](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/single-use-plastics-ban-plates-bowls-trays-containers-cutlery-and-balloon-sticks), updated 7 October 2024*

SPI analysis

That line keeps solid, unfoamed polystyrene cups and lids outside England's ban, while the Welsh lid entry, once commenced, would reach any polystyrene lid.

## What leaders should do now

1. **Retail and food service compliance leads, by 30 November 2026:**  split every product line into the four exposure groups of Exhibit 6, and mark each line for English and Welsh sale and for Welsh delivery addresses.
2. **Category and buying teams for wet wipes, by 18 December 2026:**  have plastic-free ranges on Welsh shelves and in Welsh deliveries, and decide whether to switch England at the same time or by 19 May 2027.
3. **Packaging technologists, by 31 March 2027:**  obtain declarations for every fibre plate, bowl, cup, lid and cutlery item stating any plastic lining, coating or binder, and for every polystyrene item whether it is foamed.
4. **Food service operators with Welsh sites, now:**  replace plastic plates used for counter service in Wales, and keep straw exemption records under the Schedule's four exemptions.
5. **Packaging and bag suppliers, by mid 2027:**  list which lids are polystyrene, which carrier bags are 49 microns or thinner, and which films carry oxo-degradable additives, so customers can act when Wales sets a Phase 2 date.
6. **Finance teams at large retailers, by 31 May 2027:**  file the English carrier bag return and reconcile bag proceeds and donations, since variable penalties run to £5,000 and £20,000.
7. **Boards, at the next risk review:**  ask for a single register of English, Welsh and EU single-use plastic rules by product, because the three lists now differ on trays, lids, bags, wipes and extruded polystyrene.

## Questions for your board

- Which of our products are banned in one nation but not the other, and do we run two ranges or one?
- How much of our online trade is delivered to Welsh addresses, and does our range logic know it?
- Are our wet wipes plastic-free in Wales by 18 December 2026, and what does a later English switch cost or save?
- Do we hold supplier evidence for every lined, coated or foamed item, strong enough for a due diligence defence?
- Which of our lids, bags and films would be caught if Wales commenced its Phase 2 entries next year?
- If we sell in the EU, have we planned for extruded polystyrene leaving the market on 1 January 2030?

## What to watch

- **Oct 2026:**  three years after commencement, SI 2023/982's civil sanctions fall due for review under regulation 13, according to SPI's [PR-GB-006](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-006/) note.
- **18 Dec 2026:**  Wales bans wet wipes containing plastic, with a medical exemption (WSI 2025/716; [PR-GB-007](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-007/)).
- **19 May 2027:**  England bans the supply of wet wipes containing plastic (SI 2025/1218).
- **3 Jul 2027:**  the Commission's evaluation of the SUP Directive is due, including its coherence with the PPWR ([PR-EU-014](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/european-union/pr-eu-014/)).
- **Oct 2028:**  latest date for the first five-yearly review of SI 2023/982, in SPI's reading of regulation 13.
- **1 Jan 2030:**  extruded polystyrene food containers, beverage containers and cups join the EU polystyrene ban (Commission Notice C/2026/3084).
- **No date set:**  Wales's Phase 2 bans on polystyrene lids, plastic carrier bags and oxo-degradable plastic, pending a UK Internal Market Act exclusion.

## Methodology

- **Data used:**  SPI Regulation Tracker rules [PR-GB-006](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-006/) (England), [PR-GB-007](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/united-kingdom/pr-gb-007/) (Wales) and [PR-EU-014](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/european-union/pr-eu-014/) (EU SUP Directive bans), the SPI GB jurisdiction note and two SPI Packaging Buyers Database profiles, all as of 14 October 2026; the English and Welsh instruments on legislation.gov.uk; Defra and Welsh Government guidance and statements; Trading Standards pages; EUR-Lex. Sources consulted on 26 October 2026.
- **Counting rules:**  an item is "banned" where supplying it to the public is an offence on 26 October 2026; "listed, not commenced" where it is in the Welsh Schedule without a commencement order. Day counts are calendar days between dates in force.
- **Calculations:**  carrier bag sums multiply Defra's reported bag numbers by the 10p minimum charge; penalty scenarios multiply the amounts in the instruments by an assumed 20 outlets. All figures are in GBP; nothing is converted.
- **Cut-off:**  26 October 2026.
- **Limitations:**  Welsh guidance on pre-filled plates, the start date of the Welsh 5p charge and any Welsh civil sanctions instrument are not confirmed. Northern Ireland and Scotland are outside this piece. This is not legal advice; check with counsel for any specific product or role.

## Sources

1. legislation.gov.uk, SI 2023/982, The Environmental Protection (Plastic Plates etc. and Polystyrene Containers etc.) (England) Regulations 2023, as made, [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/982/made](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/982/made), consulted 2026-10-26.
2. legislation.gov.uk, SI 2023/982, regulation 2, [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/982/regulation/2/made](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/982/regulation/2/made), consulted 2026-10-26.
3. legislation.gov.uk, SI 2023/982, regulation 3, [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/982/regulation/3/made](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/982/regulation/3/made), consulted 2026-10-26.
4. GOV.UK (Defra), Single-use plastics ban: plates, bowls, trays, containers, cutlery and balloon sticks (published 22 January 2024, updated 7 October 2024), [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/single-use-plastics-ban-plates-bowls-trays-containers-cutlery-and-balloon-sticks](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/single-use-plastics-ban-plates-bowls-trays-containers-cutlery-and-balloon-sticks), consulted 2026-10-26.
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