Acknowledging the growing body of evidence around the damaging environmental impacts of plastic waste and increasing government led plastics bans, the Global Shelter Cluster calls on organisations involved in providing shelter in humanitarian settings to take all necessary steps to eliminate the use of all but essential plastic packaging in relief items by the end of 2020. Whilst acknowledging the significant advances already being made on this topic, the GSC advocates that changes be urgently made to specification and procurement practices to formalise principles of ‘reduce or reuse’ and ensure plastics are only used when absolutely essential. The Global Shelter Cluster will consolidate and share examples and practices from partners on achieving this initiative.