CAMRA is calling on licensing authorities to allow pubs to use alternatives to non-glass drinks containers in collaboration with NGO A Plastic Planet.

With awareness of the devastating impact of plastic pollution increasing, CAMRA has launched a campaign to see authorities stop mandating the use of plastic or polycarbonate drinks containers as a licensing condition for pubs, social clubs and other on-trade venues. 

CAMRA has previously supported calls made by the NGO for the pint containers to be included in government bans on single-use plastic.

Research showed 75 per cent of consumers say plastic pints ruin the taste of beer, with 89 per cent adding they’d like to see them banned for good.

Despite overwhelming consumer agreement, the on-trade doesn’t have much of a say in its use of plastic pints, with authorities across the UK sometimes mandating their use as a condition of a venue’s premises licence – something CAMRA would like to see changed. 

In venues where pints might be dropped or broken, CAMRA is calling for licensees to be allowed to adopt some of the alternatives made using everything from paper to aluminium to compostable corn starch.

Using its more than 200 local branches, CAMRA is writing to licensing authorities asking for a simple change in wording to the conditions applied to venues where using glass wouldn’t be in the interests of public safety.

Rather than specifying plastic, licensing could include a wider range of materials or simply give the criteria a material should meet – for example, requiring beer to be served using shatterproof containers. 

Almost 70 per cent of plastic pint cups will end up in landfill or as litter. Plastic cups are the sixth most littered item in UK rivers and eighth most commonly found item on our beaches. With innovative alternatives being developed, CAMRA is asking why pubs and social clubs are still being shackled to single-use plastic.

CAMRA campaigns director Nick Boley said: “CAMRA’s members voted to add environmental campaigning to the areas we lobby on at our 2021 conference and we want to support the innovators who are creating solutions for a plastic-free pint but can’t currently market their products to the on-trade. 

“Longer-term, CAMRA will be calling for plastic pints to be included in the bans on single-use plastic being rolled out by governments across the UK, to ensure our nation isn’t clogged with littered plastic pints and we can always enjoy real ale, cider and perry without the taste of plastic. 

“It is ridiculous for one area of government to be mandating the use of plastic while other areas look at banning it, and we want to see a more joined-up approach to this issue.”

Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland said: “It is an outdated and irrational position of licensing authorities to mandate the use of damaging single-use plastic when the sustainable alternatives are readily available.

“The British public is eager to see change. Venues are being shackled by the narrow specifications handed down from above. The pubs and bars of the UK should be able to drive forward their shared agenda of making sustainable alternatives to plastic the norm.”

CAMRA unveiled its Drink Greener campaign in the latest edition of its Good Beer Guide published this month.

To get your copy visit: https://shop1.camra.org.uk/product/the-good-beer-guide-2023/

You can also discover all of the pubs listed, and more, with CAMRA’s new Good Beer Guide app, available on iOS and as a web-based app at https://gbgapp.camra.org.uk