Agenda item - Single Use Plastics Policy and Action Plan

Report of the Corporate Director of Environment and Resident Experience. To be presented by the Leader of the Council.

DECLARATINS OF INTEREST FOR THIS ITEM:

None

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

Approved the Single Use Plastics Policy 2026 and accompanying Single Use Plastics Action Plan, which outlined how the Council would reduce SUPs, both within its operations and across the borough.

Reasons for decision

Haringey Council was committed to doing everything possible to respond to the climate emergency and improve sustainability across its own operations and in the borough of Haringey.

Reducing consumption of SUPs across the Council’s offices and the borough saved money, reduced waste, improved the environment and decreased the number of harmful plastics ending up in the world’s oceans or in landfill.

Haringey Council had already taken bold steps to reduce SUPs. The last SUP policy successfully delivered a wide range of plastic reduction initiatives including the introduction of water fountains for refillable bottles and recyclable drink cups in Council offices.

This decision supported the Council’s Climate Emergency declaration and contributed to borough-wide carbon reduction targets. It also aligned with the Corporate Delivery Plan, particularly the strategic themes of Responding to the Climate Emergency and Place and Economy.

Haringey’s last original SUP Policy ran from 2020 to 2022. Post-COVID, many Council practices had changed; for example, changes in building usage and remote working affected SUP consumption and waste. Some actions outlined in the original plan were no longer applicable or relevant to current ways of working.

The national and regional landscape around SUP had also changed significantly since 2020, which meant the original policy did not reflect recent developments in legislation, borough-wide sustainability goals, or best practice guidance from ReLondon and London Councils.

At a regional level, London Councils, ReLondon, and WRAP launched the “One World Living Single-Use Plastics Pledge” in 2025, encouraging boroughs to commit to reducing SUPs across their operations and supply chains. This new updated SUP policy reflected how Haringey actively aligned with this pledge.

The Policy and Action Plan highlighted the borough’s commitment to eliminate problematic single-use plastics and transition to reuse in Council operations and delivered services. It aligned with a growing regional movement across London and was in tandem with the Council’s commitment to the single-use plastics pledge in partnership with London Councils, ReLondon and WRAP.

Alternative options considered

Doing nothing was rejected. This would have left the Council with an outdated SUP Policy, which did not reflect how the Council’s operations had changed, or changes in the regional and national policy landscape. Not updating the policy would not have supported the Corporate Delivery Plan or the Haringey Climate Action Plan.

Doing a Council Plan only was rejected. This would have focused only on the Council as an organisation and on the influence the Council had across the borough. The Council was well placed to help reduce SUPs beyond its own organisation. To only focus on SUP the Council directly used would have missed opportunities, such as SUPs at events, SUPs in schools and SUPs used by the Council’s partners, which were a vital part of achieving the Council’s aim.

The Cabinet Member for Resident Services and Tackling Inequality introduced the report.

It was explained by the Cabinet Member that Haringey Council was positioned to address the issue of single use plastics (SUPs) and that its priority was to reduce unnecessary use of SUPs across council services, buildings and schools, and to influence reductions in use across the wider borough.

It was explained that Haringey’s previous SUP policy ran from 2020 to 2022 and delivered a range of plastic?reduction initiatives. The updated policy supported Theme 2 of the Corporate Delivery Plan, Responding to the Climate Emergency, and Objective C4 of the Haringey Climate Change Action Plan. The revised Action Plan was structured around four areas: council operations, schools, residents and businesses. The actions focused on internal processes such as procurement and staff engagement; partnership work with schools to reduce SUPs; resident awareness initiatives; and collaboration with businesses and event organisers to reduce plastic use.

Following questions from Cllr Emery, the following points were made:

It was explained that the proposed Single Use Plastics Policy would set the example to remove single-use plastics across all Council events.
It was explained that the Council wouldn’t use the Single-Use Plastics Policy as a requirement for partners to work with the Council, and that the Council aims However, it was explained the Single-Use Plastics Policy would be a part of the social value element of scoring for procurement exercises across the Council.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

Approved the Single Use Plastics Policy 2026 and accompanying Single Use Plastics Action Plan, which outlined how the Council would reduce SUPs, both within its operations and across the borough.