After single-use plastic bags, the Commission has its sights set on cotton buds, straws, balloons, plastic tableware and other disposable items in plastic, according to the draft European directive that the European Environment Bureau (EEB) has leaked to the press.
According to the draft, the institution is planning to propose a ban on such single-use plastic products as long as there are widely available alternatives on the market at equivalent cost. The Commission is also encouraging the European plastics industry to pay the cost of cleaning and recycling such products which are strewn across beaches and pollute oceans. It is also apparently proposing to impose a target on member states to collect 90% of all plastic bottles placed on the market each year by 2025.
Speaking on Monday 7 May, a European Commission spokesman said the legislative proposal “will be presented by the core project team co-chaired by First Vice-President Timmermans, Vice-President Katainen, Commissioners Vella and Bienkowska, before the summer”. At the earliest, the proposal could be presented at the end of the month.
The resolve to legislate in order to reduce the use of disposable plastic had been announced in the EU plastics strategy presented in January by the Commission, as part of the EU action plan for the circular economy (see EUROPE 11874, 11940). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)