Ban on the supply and sale of wet wipes containing plastic: Strategic Environmental Assessment Post-Adoption Statement

6. Reasonable alternatives

The 2005 Act requires that the Scottish Government identify, describe and evaluate the likely significant effects on the environment of any reasonable alternatives to the plan or programme, taking into account its objectives and geographical scope.

The reasonable alternatives considered in the Environmental Report were:

• Non-regulatory actions
• Business as usual, no policy change

The potential environmental effects associated with the two reasonable alternatives were identified and set out in detail in the Environment Report. The SEA assessed that neither of the identified reasonable alternatives were likely to result in additional benefits compared to the proposed ban, and each carries the additional risk of the situation deteriorating when compared to the option of the proposed ban.

Non-regulatory options, such as business and public behaviour change measures have previously been tried and have not made a discernible impact, therefore the proposed ban is the only route that has the potential to lead to significant beneficial environmental effects being realised.

The Environmental Report considered that the proposed ban was the most likely scenario to bring about long-term environmental benefits for the topics of biodiversity, flora and fauna, and water quality, resources and ecological status, and could help contribute to the achievement of the SEA objectives. This is because the proposed ban has the potential to result in reduced risk of harm to a range of marine species and habitats.

An additional alternative of banning all wet wipes was suggested by some respondents to the consultation. However, as has been acknowledged throughout this process, and in particular in Section 5 of this document, the intention of the proposed ban is not to disadvantage the public or the operation of businesses (as would be the result of an outright ban) but to remove from sale those types of wet wipes that are known to often be flushed down the toilet rather than binned and can result in marine litter.