cotton swabs, Cotton balls, straws, touillettes coffee… do these products in single-use plastic pollute massively the oceans. Against this scourge, the countries of the european Union have decided, that night, to ban them. The text, discussed in a record time after an initial proposal of the european Commission at the end of may, prohibits about a dozen categories of products, which alone account for 70% of the waste discarded in the oceans and on the beaches.
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The agreement, “trilogue”, according to the eu jargon, is reached in the morning between negotiators of the european Parliament, member States and the Commission, and this after several hours of final negotiations. However, to enter into force, the text still needs to receive the formal assent of the two institutions, namely the Parliament and the Council of the EU. This legislative process is expected to be completed in the spring of 2019, for an application to the horizon 2021 and then in the member States of the Union.
“The Europeans are aware that plastic waste is a huge problem and the EU as a whole has shown real courage in attacking it, making it the world leader in the fight against plastic waste at sea, was welcomed by the first vice-president of the european Commission, Frans Timmermans, was quoted in a press release. The european Commission will present its directive as “the legal instrument most ambitious in the world in terms of marine litter”.
The equivalent of € 22 billion saved by 2030
Some of the plastic products single use will be prohibited if there are alternatives without plastic, such as cotton swabs, cotton balls, cutlery, plates, straws, stirrers beverage or sticks for balloons. For other products, the aim is to reduce their consumption at the national level, be more demanding on their design and labelling or set of obligations to producers in the management and cleaning of waste.
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“Measured by weight, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans of the world by 2050 if we continue to reject the plastic in the sea at the current rate. We can’t let this happen,” warned Elisabeth Köstinger, austrian minister of sustainable Development, whose country currently chairs the EU. In addition to the protection of the oceans, the Commission argues that the directive has other “environmental and economic benefits”. It will, for example, “prevent the emission of 3.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent,” but also “to avoid the environmental damage that would cost the equivalent of 22 billion euros by 2030” and to “save 6.5 billion euros” to consumers.
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The alliance to Rethink Plastic, which brings together NGOS for a future without plastic, has called the text “important step forward”, but felt that it did “not fully to the urgency of the crisis of plastics”. “The EU deserves praise for having been the first region to introduce new laws aimed at reducing pollution from single-use plastics and plastic waste in our fields, rivers and oceans. What is less commendable is that the lobby of the plastic – supported by some governments – has managed to delay and weaken his ambition,” said Meadhbh Bolger, Friends of the Earth Europe on behalf of Rethink Plastic.
