Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth has no patience for plastic and is taking Buckingham Palace plastic free

Her Majesty officially banned plastic straws and bottles from all cafés, dining halls, and catered events on royal estates. In a move thought to be inspired by David Attenborough- the venerable naturalist- the Queen became personally interested in the problem of plastic after working with him on a conservation documentary dealing with wildlife in the Commonwealth.

The new measures include gradually phasing out plastic straws in public cafes and banning them altogether in staff dining rooms. Internal caterers at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh will now only be allowed to use china plates and glasses, or recyclable paper cups. Takeaway food items in the Royal Collection cafes must also now be made of compostable or biodegradable packaging.

“Across the organization, the Royal Household is committed to reducing its environmental impact,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said. The ban is one of a few big green moves of late by Her Majesty, including plans to add solar panels and biogas generator to Buckingham Palace.

As well as the Queen’s interest, The Prince of Wales also regularly speaks about the damage to the oceans caused by dumped plastic and recently warned that the world was facing a ‘escalating ecological and human disaster’ from refuse in the seas.

Of the 300 million tons of plastic produced every year, more than 8 million are estimated to end up in the ocean. Brits alone use well over 7 billion disposable plastic water bottles a year, recycling fewer than half of them (and recycling plastic comes with a whole other set of problems). If that rate remains unchanged, there will be more plastic by weight than fish in the ocean by 2050.

Watch David Attenborough’s latest series Planet Blue II: http://www.bbcearth.com/video/?v=676345
Source: The Telegraph and The Independent