The NGOs Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) and Reloop Platform warned on 22 January against the risk of loopholes in the Single-Use Plastic Directive that came into force in July. These loopholes, linked to the definition of plastic and the interpretation of the Directive, could undermine the objective of this legislation which aims to reduce the environmental impacts of single-use plastic products and to stimulate the circular economy.
The NGOs point to a study by Eunomia Research & Consulting analysing the environmental impact of lyocell and viscose used in wet wipes. These are two natural polymers which have not been chemically modified and are therefore excluded from the scope of the Directive.
However, according to the study, there is not enough evidence to establish that these materials will not have as harmful an impact on the environment as a synthetic plastic product.
“Exempting materials with similar environmental impacts from the Directive’s scope, could incentivise manufacturers to opt for material substitutions which would absolve them from having to finance the cost of litter clean-up, transport and treatment, and the cost of awareness-raising activities”, the NGOs point out.
In their view, in order to avoid material substitution and to achieve a real impact on the economy and the environment in the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Commission should implement an approach to product and waste that is not only material-specific but also system oriented. They recommend going beyond the impacts of single-use plastics to include all single-use products and creating a legislative framework for reuse operations that provides for an organised transition from single-use applications towards durable and efficient systems.
The study underlines the importance of the ongoing discussions on the definition of plastic to determine which single-use products fall within the scope of the Directive. See the report at: http://bit.ly/2sQn1xM (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)