Plastic plates, cutlery or cotton buds are one step closer to being banned across the European Union, with the European Parliament voting in favour of an environmental directive prohibiting single-use plastic products on Wednesday.
MEPs voted 571-53 in favour of the ambitious legislative proposal which seeks to drastically reduce single-use plastics, with an outright ban by 2021 of those for which readily available alternatives already exist. For products without clear alternatives, the focus is on limiting their use through reduction in consumption.
EU states would be obliged to recycle 90 percent of plastic bottles by 2025, while producers to help cover costs of waste management.
MEPs also voted to set an objective of collecting 90 per cent of all beverage bottles by 2025, and added polystyrene fast-food containers and products made of oxo-degradableplastics, which critics say do not fully break down, to a list proposed by the EU executive earlier this year.
The European Commission estimates the proposed directive would reduce marine litter on EU beaches by around a quarter by 2030. It would also avoid environmental damages which would cost the equivalent of €22 billion.
Campaigners welcomed the EP vote, though the Rethink Plastic alliance also expressed disappointment that a ban on very light-weight single-use plastic bags, which had been backed by the Strasbourg parliament's Environment Committee, did not make it into the final bill.
The European Parliament on Monday discussed the issue in depth, with MEP Belgian Frederique Ries, who drafted a report on the matter, insisting the EU should “wage war” on plastic.
Speaking during Monday’s debate, Labour MEP Miriam Dalli noted that every minute, the equivalent of one truckload of plastic was dumped into the ocean.
“The Mediterranean has been identified as the sea with the highest levels of micro-plastics,” she said. “We need to act now,” she insisted, adding this directive was the first step in reducing emissions. The MEP also called for a legally binding international agreement to stop plastic from reaching oceans.
Other MEPs called for stronger regulations, insisting the definition of plastic was currently too lax.
Some also hit out at German MEP Peter Liese, who insisted the rules could lead to “excessive bureaucracy”.
“I saw a young boy letting go of a balloon in memory of his dead grandfather,” he said. Would we want to remove these sweet moments too, he asked.
Danish MEP Aukren Margrete insisted the world was watching and that the EU could not satisfy industry wishes at the expense of the environment.
Closing the debate, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs Karmenu Vella said the directive was both ambitious and urgent.
“There will be more plastic than fish by 2050,” he said, adding the European Union did not want to “demonise” plastic.
He also added that he would like the first reading on the approved directive to be completed by the end of the year.
The legislative proposal must be agreed upon by member states at EU Council level before passing into law. Negotiations between MEPs, the EU Commission and national governments could begin as early as next month.