Green Party leader Clare Bailey has called for a ban on single-use plastics in Northern Ireland.

This comes after it was revealed that over four million items of single-use plastics are dumped in NI every week.

Speaking about the alarming statistics, Bailey said: "There is projected to be more plastic than fish in our seas by 2050 – plastic pollution is a crisis which requires an urgent response. The government has already announced plans to ban single-use plastics in England, but yet again, Stormont is dragging its feet.

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"Rather than extended consultations on reducing plastic waste, we need immediate action with the target of eradicating it. We use plastic as a permanent solution for a temporary issue, this needs to end. We have sustainable solutions to solve these issues.

"The five-party Executive has a disastrous environmental record, their failure to act resulting in all of Northern Ireland's waterbodies failing to meet basic quality standards, and making NI the 12th worst place in the world for biodiversity loss. Now is the time to be setting ambitious environmental targets, including setting the aim of eliminating single-use plastics."