It’s estimated that England uses 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery, most of which are plastic, and 721 million single-use plates per year with only 10% getting recycled. Bidfood’s Catering Supplies is continuing on its journey to drive a circular economy by helping its customers reduce, reuse, recycle and renew.

The team has released a ‘Plastic Ban’ guide suggesting the alternative products their customers can switch to using, making the transition as easy as possible for them. The guide will also promote recyclable plastics and their correct waste streams, as not all plastics are included in the ban.  

Michaela Bateman, category & marketing manager for catering supplies at Bidfood, said: “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.” 

For more help, tips and support on the single-use plastic ban, visit: https://www.bidfood.co.uk/single-use-plastics-ban-2023/.