Campaigning members of the Green Party are contacting forecourt operators, urging them to stop offering disposable plastic gloves to fuel customers, arguing they are a waste of resources and contribute to microplastic pollution.
Tricia Watson, a member of the Green Party and a councillor for Stroud District Council, has written to Tesco urging the retailer to stop stocking disposable gloves at its 600 forecourts.
The politician told Punchline Gloucester: “Single-use items cause so much litter, and disposable plastic gloves are a visible source of micro-plastic contamination, often ending up in hedgerows, drainage systems and waterways.”
Cllr Torrington told the publication the supermarket giant had already agreed to stop stocking diesel gloves at one filling station, and while she did not offer an alternative, Eric Torrington, a longstanding anti-litter campaigner suggested customers could keep their own, reusable gloves in their vehicles.
While forecourt gloves are predominantly intended for people using diesel pumps due to the oily nature of the fuel, many petrol customers also don them, in part as research indicates pump handles can be home to all manner of nasties.
Commenting on the concillor’s calls, Gordon Balmer, executive director or the Petrol Retailers Association said: ”The provision of gloves at dispensers is there for consumer choice and when finished, it is expected customers make use of the refuse options provided for safe and responsible disposal.”
