EU Directive 94/62/EC did not force Malta to switch from reusable glass bottles to non-returnable PET bottles. The EU gave Malta a period of five years before non-alcoholic drinks could be imported in PET bottles or cans. This had been previously forbidden under Maltese law. At least that's how I understand the law. If I am wrong, perhaps I need to be englightened on which directive it was that forced the discontinuation of returnable glass bottles on Malta.

When production started for soft drinks in PET bottles in Germany years ago, the state recognised the impact this would have on the environment and forced the industry to charge a higher deposit on these bottles to make sure that the consumer brings them back to the source so that they are refilled or recycled. And the consumer still had a choice in supermarkets between soft drinks bottled in glass or PET. This choice unfortunately is not possible at the moment, as most big supermarkets do not stock the glass bottles anymore.

Malta's best pro-environment legislation could have been replaced by a law obliging the importer or manufacturer of PET to make sure their bottles do not end up in the normal garbage and are instead returned to the shops. In Germany a deposit of (€0.25/Lm0.11) is charged for non-refillable PET bottles. They fought for this legislation for about five years in the European Court. After some amendments to the German packaging-deposit scheme, the case was dropped in March 2007 ( www.euractiv.com/en/environment/brussels-clears-german-packaging-deposit-scheme/article-162737 ).

Malta would definitely benefit from copying parts of this legislation. Why not choose a working and now also European Court-approved law instead of creating something new. Or will we just be buried under the huge amount of locally produced non-returnable plastic bottles?