To reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels, the production of plastics should be decreased as a matter of urgency, according to a report by Break free from plastic and the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) published on Tuesday 27 September.
The report shows that plastics and petrochemicals are the largest industrial consumers of oil, gas and electricity in the EU, with almost 40% of this energy used in the production of plastic packaging alone. For example, in 2020, plastics production was responsible for almost 9% and 8% of the EU’s final fossil gas and oil consumption respectively.
“While families and small businesses face skyrocketing energy bills, the petrochemical industry is wasting scarce resources to produce unnecessary single-use plastic,” according to the NGOs.
The report recommends that EU Member States drastically reduce plastic production by accelerating the implementation of the Waste Framework Directive and the Single-Use Plastics Directive and raise the level of ambition by adopting prevention and reuse targets.
It also calls for ambitious packaging reduction measures to be adopted as part of the revision of the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, scheduled for 30 November.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/39o (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)