We all know about the plastic pollution crisis that we face and schools are being encouraged to get rid of single-use plastics by 2022.

However, encouragement is not enough: we need to ban single-use plastic in school canteens NOW.

As a Year 8 student, I am shocked at the at the over-packaging of food at my school. The most shocking examples of this are a sandwich, that does not need to be covered, are wrapped in plastic and fish and chips, a very common meal, in Styrofoam.

Most of us can see the obvious problems with this, but the providers of school meals clearly do not. If one student bought a plastic-wrapped sandwich, that might not be a problem. But there are 10,259,840 secondary school students in the UK. It is impossible to imagine how much waste that amounts to.

I believe that it is unfair to have young people use that much plastic, only to then lecture them about how they have to make the world a better place. Because, at the end of the day, it is the very same students who will have to face the consequences as adults.

That's why I'm calling on the Education Secretary to ban single-use plastic in school canteens, and help us make the change.

Using unnecessary plastic in schools should not just be considered the norm. We need to work together and ban single-use plastics in school canteens.

It may not be the fault of this generation that the planet is dying, but it is up to us to do something.

I do not want to see my school and my world taken over by plastic. We must act now. Sign the petition and help to ban single-use plastic in UK school canteens.