Millions of people across the UK are feeling the impact of the rising use of plastic polymer mailing bags. Retailers send out an estimated 2 billion of these soft plastic packages every year—bags that are ripped open, cannot be reused, and are rarely recycled. With only 10% of UK LDPE being recycled and most local authorities unable to collect soft plastics, households, communities, wildlife, and our natural landscapes are left to shoulder a growing waste burden that our recycling systems simply cannot manage. These bags frequently end up in landfills, waterways, and marine environments, where they persist for centuries, fragment into microplastics, contaminate soils, and harm birds, fish, and other wildlife. Once released into the natural environment, they are almost impossible to remove.

If nothing changes, this problem will escalate rapidly. Polymailer use is predicted to reach 2.7 billion bags a year by 2030, adding tens of thousands of tonnes of plastic waste to a system already at breaking point. This means more landfill overflow, more long-lasting pollution, more toxins leaching into ecosystems, and higher carbon emissions from the production of crude-oil-based plastics. It also accelerates the accumulation of microplastics in food chains, water supplies, and even the air we breathe—an emerging health and environmental crisis. All of this is happening despite the fact that affordable and genuinely sustainable packaging alternatives already exist, making continued reliance on single-use polymer mailers completely unnecessary. With proper legislation, we can replicate the dramatic success seen after the plastic carrier bag charge and deliver real, measurable progress for the environment at a corporate level.

Now is the moment to act. Existing measures like the plastic packaging tax and Extended Producer Responsibility are not enough to deter large retailers or reduce plastic use on the scale required. Recycling rates have stagnated for more than a decade, and our national waste infrastructure is not prepared for the surge in soft plastic waste that is coming. Without intervention, the environmental damage will only accelerate—placing additional strain on ecosystems already under pressure from climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Immediate government action is essential to reduce carbon emissions, protect habitats, safeguard public health, and prevent further ecological harm.

By supporting this petition, we can push for meaningful policy change, hold major retailers accountable, and help protect our environment before the problem becomes even harder—and more costly—to reverse. Together, we have the power to drive a shift toward sustainable packaging and preserve the health of our planet for future generations.