Schools are being urged to stop using single-use plastic by 2022 in an effort to combat plastic pollution.

They’ll be encouraged to replace plastic products such as carrier bags, straws and food containers with sustainable alternatives.

Education secretary Damian Hinds believes that all schools in England should be following in the footsteps of Georgeham Primary School in Devon, which became the first school in the UK to become completely single-use plastic free in early 2018.

The Conservative MP for East Hampshire, who was previously exchequer secretary to the treasury and employment minister, explains that while it’s “not always easy” to stop using plastic, it is a necessary change.

“In my first school visit as education secretary almost a year ago, the very first question I was asked by a pupil was what we can do to limit the damage of plastic on the environment,” he says.

“Reducing our use of plastic clearly is an important and timely issue which has captured the interest and the imagination of everyone in society.”

He continues, emphasising the damage that excessive use of plastic can have on the environment and wildlife.

“The leadership shown by schools like Georgeham Primary in going single-use plastic free is an impressive example for us all – and I want work to support every school in the country following their lead by 2022.

“It’s not always easy but we all have a role to play in driving out avoidable plastic waste, and, with more schools joining others and leading by example, we can help to leave our planet in a better state than we found it.”

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A father and son on a makeshift boat made from styrofoam paddle through a garbage filled river as they collect plastic bottles that they can sell in junkshops in Manila. The father and son team earn some three US dollars a day retrieving recyclables from the river. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A composite image of items found on the shore of the Thames Estuary in Rainham, Kent. Tons of plastic and other waste lines areas along the Thames Estuary shoreline, an important feeding ground for wading birds and other marine wildlife. Getty Images Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children collect plastic water bottles among the garbage washed ashore at the Manila Bay. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, at current rates of pollution, there will likely be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastics and other detritus line the shore of the Thames Estuary. In December 2017 Britain joined the other 193 UN countries and signed up to a resolution to help eliminate marine litter and microplastics in the sea. It is estimated that about eight million metric tons of plastic find their way into the world's oceans every year. Once in the Ocean plastic can take hundreds of years to degrade, all the while breaking down into smaller and smaller 'microplastics,' which can be consumed by marine animals, and find their way into the human food chain. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A dump site in Manila in 2013. The Philippines financial capital banned disposable plastic shopping bags and styrofoam food containers, as part of escalating efforts across the nation's capital to curb rubbish that exacerbates deadly flooding. AFP/Getty Images Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children swims in the sea full of garbage in North Jakarta, Indonesia. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures An Indian woman holds a jar filled with Yamuna river water polluted with froth and toxic foam to be used for rituals at the river bank in New Delhi, India. The Yamuna River, like all other holy rivers in India, has been massively polluted for decades now. The river that originates in a glacier in the pristine and unpolluted Himalayas, and flows through Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh before merging with the Ganges River in Allahabad, once used to be the lifeline of the Indian capital. Currently, it is no more than a large, open sewer that is choking with industrial and domestic discharge that includes plastic, flowers and debris and has virtually no aquatic life. EPA Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastic waste is washed up on South Troon beach in Scotland. Recent reports by scientists have confirmed, plastics dumped in the world oceans are reaching a dangerous level with micro plastic particles now being found inside filter feeding animals and amongst sand grains on our beaches. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children collect plastic to be sold and recycled, in a polluted river in suburban Manila. The city's trash disposal agency traps solid waste floating down waterways that was thrown into the water by residents of slums along riverbanks upstream. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures View of the Carpayo Beach in La Punta, Callao, some 15 km of Lima. In 2013, the NGO VIDA labeled the Carpayo Beach as the most polluted in the country - 40 tons of trash on each 500m2. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Trash from Kamilo Beach in Hawaii. Gabriella Levine/Flickr Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A scavenger collects plastic cups for recycling in a river covered with rubbish near Pluit dam in Jakarta. Reuters Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Rubbish fills Omoa beach in Honduras. Floating masses of garbage offshore from some of the Caribbean's pristine beaches are testimony to a vast and growing problem of plastic pollution heedlessly dumped in our oceans, locals, activists and experts say. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A man climbs down to a garbage filled river in Manila. Plastic rubbish will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to recycle the material, a report warned in 2016. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Garbage on East Beach, Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands), in the south Pacific Ocean. The uninhabited island has been found to have the world's highest density of waste plastic, with more than 3,500 additional pieces of litter washing ashore daily at just one of its beaches. EPA

Environment secretary Michael Gove recently announced that the cost of carrier bags across England will be increasing from 5p to 10p in order to reduce plastic consumption.

The changes are going to come into effect in January 2020.

Julian Thomas, headteacher of the school, has praised Hinds for encouraging schools to go single-use plastic free.

He explains to The Daily Telegraph that he’s noticed an “awful lot” of his pupils arriving at school with their packed lunch sandwiches wrapped in cling film.

However, many parents have been providing their children with washable sandwich bags following the school’s efforts to cut out single-use plastic.

“All of our pupils enthusiastically played their part in helping the school reduce excessive single use plastic consumption,” he says.

“I am confident children across the rest of the country would also welcome the challenge.

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