LONDON, April 22 (Xinhua) -- The supply and sale of wet wipes containing plastic will be banned across the United Kingdom (UK), the government announced on Monday.
Between 2015 and 2020, an average of 20 wet wipes were found per 100 meters of beach surveyed across the UK, according to official beach monitoring data.
The new legislation should be in place across the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) by the end of this year.
Once each separate piece of legislation is passed, there will be an 18-month transition period intended to mitigate the impacts of the ban. These include job losses, and preventing excess stocks of the product from being incinerated or landfilled.
Some UK retailers have already stopped selling wet wipes containing plastic. ■