{"id":61511,"date":"2023-11-09T08:39:13","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T19:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=61511"},"modified":"2024-07-11T12:15:25","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T00:15:25","slug":"eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/","title":{"rendered":"EU-Mercosur: the European Union’s dirty plastic secret"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While world leaders are negotiating a Global Plastics Treaty to end the age of plastic<\/a>, the European Union is trying to push through a free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) that will do exactly the opposite.

For years, experts and civil society have been warning of dangerous free trade agreements that could set back the fight to protect the environment and human rights<\/a>. The EU-Mercosur free trade agreement is one such agreement that could be a nightmare for people and natural ecosystems<\/a>.

What is less well known is that this agreement could also be a disaster for the fight against plastic pollution.<\/p>\n\n

\"Activists
Activists from Greenpeace Belgium scale the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, and spray the building with an agricultural pesticide pump, while EU trade ministers discuss the EU-Mercosur trade deal. The climbers hung banners on the facade of the building reading \u201cStop EU-Mercosur\u201d, and an agricultural truck sprayed clouds of water to simulate pesticides, protesting increases in exports of toxic chemicals expected if the deal is concluded.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

When the European Union wants to sell more plastic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Should we reduce the production and consumption of plastic? Even a newborn baby would know that the answer is yes. Is the European Union ignoring the growing number of scientific studies warning of the deleterious effects of plastic, which is poisoning our air, our food and our bodies<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n

This is what it appears to be doing when it campaigns in favour of a free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries that will abolish customs duties on European exports of plastic waste and single-use plastics<\/a>. The removal of these customs duties is likely to lead to an increase in trade in these products. This is what Greenpeace Germany discovered when it scrutinised the fine print of the agreement.

Out of sight, out of mind? The European Union’s double standards when it comes to plastics<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPETITION: Demand a Global Plastics Treaty\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Call on the NZ Government to stand firm and support a strong global plastics treaty.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \n Take Action\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While world leaders are negotiating a Global Plastics Treaty to end the age of plastic, the European Union is trying to push through a free trade agreement with the Mercosur…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":53617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[27],"p4-page-type":[6],"class_list":["post-61511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-plastics","p4-page-type-story"],"yoast_head":"\nEU-Mercosur: the European Union's dirty plastic secret<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EU-Mercosur: the European Union's dirty plastic secret\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While world leaders are negotiating a Global Plastics Treaty to end the age of plastic, the European Union is trying to push through a free trade agreement with the Mercosur…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-08T19:39:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-11T00:15:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/11\/78db9dc4-gp0stqvnq.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aden Miles Morunga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Aden Miles Morunga\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Aden Miles Morunga\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/894553b58f914fa9a7157965ea4d56d8\"},\"headline\":\"EU-Mercosur: the European Union’s dirty plastic secret\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-08T19:39:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-11T00:15:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/\"},\"wordCount\":325,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/11\/78db9dc4-gp0stqvnq.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Plastics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Greenpeace\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/\",\"name\":\"EU-Mercosur: the European Union's dirty plastic secret\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/11\/78db9dc4-gp0stqvnq.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-08T19:39:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-11T00:15:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/894553b58f914fa9a7157965ea4d56d8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/11\/78db9dc4-gp0stqvnq.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/11\/78db9dc4-gp0stqvnq.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Close up of litter and Coke bottle on the beach. Crew from the Beluga II survey a beach called Shell Inlet on the Isle of Lewis in the outer Hebrides. Greenpeace has brought its ship the Beluga II on an expedition of scientific research around Scotland, sampling seawater for microplastics and documenting the impact of ocean plastic on some of the UK\u2019s most precious marine life.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EU-Mercosur: the European Union’s dirty plastic secret\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\",\"name\":\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\",\"description\":\"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/894553b58f914fa9a7157965ea4d56d8\",\"name\":\"Aden Miles Morunga\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocKXAUeHW_SrF_mtsP4Ox7Asvu_4usgU2K3gtQbHFYA2=s96-c\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocKXAUeHW_SrF_mtsP4Ox7Asvu_4usgU2K3gtQbHFYA2=s96-c\",\"caption\":\"Aden Miles Morunga\"},\"description\":\"Ko Taupiri te maunga Ko Waikato te awa Ko Tainui te waka Ko Tainui te iwi Ko Ngaati Mahuta, Ngaati Patupo, Ngaati Apakura te hapuu Ko Tuurangawaewae te marae Noo Ngaaruawahia ahau Ko Morunga tooku whaanau Ko Aden Miles tooku ingoa.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/amorunga\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EU-Mercosur: the European Union's dirty plastic secret","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"EU-Mercosur: the European Union's dirty plastic secret","og_description":"While world leaders are negotiating a Global Plastics Treaty to end the age of plastic, the European Union is trying to push through a free trade agreement with the Mercosur…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/","og_site_name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz","article_published_time":"2023-11-08T19:39:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-07-11T00:15:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/11\/78db9dc4-gp0stqvnq.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Aden Miles Morunga","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_site":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Aden Miles Morunga","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/"},"author":{"name":"Aden Miles Morunga","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/894553b58f914fa9a7157965ea4d56d8"},"headline":"EU-Mercosur: the European Union’s dirty plastic secret","datePublished":"2023-11-08T19:39:13+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-11T00:15:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/"},"wordCount":325,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/11\/78db9dc4-gp0stqvnq.jpg","keywords":["Plastics"],"articleSection":["Greenpeace"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/","name":"EU-Mercosur: the European Union's dirty plastic secret","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/11\/78db9dc4-gp0stqvnq.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-08T19:39:13+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-11T00:15:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/894553b58f914fa9a7157965ea4d56d8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/11\/78db9dc4-gp0stqvnq.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/11\/78db9dc4-gp0stqvnq.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Close up of litter and Coke bottle on the beach. Crew from the Beluga II survey a beach called Shell Inlet on the Isle of Lewis in the outer Hebrides. Greenpeace has brought its ship the Beluga II on an expedition of scientific research around Scotland, sampling seawater for microplastics and documenting the impact of ocean plastic on some of the UK\u2019s most precious marine life."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/eu-mercosur-the-european-unions-dirty-plastic-secret\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EU-Mercosur: the European Union’s dirty plastic secret"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/","name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","description":"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/894553b58f914fa9a7157965ea4d56d8","name":"Aden Miles Morunga","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocKXAUeHW_SrF_mtsP4Ox7Asvu_4usgU2K3gtQbHFYA2=s96-c","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocKXAUeHW_SrF_mtsP4Ox7Asvu_4usgU2K3gtQbHFYA2=s96-c","caption":"Aden Miles Morunga"},"description":"Ko Taupiri te maunga Ko Waikato te awa Ko Tainui te waka Ko Tainui te iwi Ko Ngaati Mahuta, Ngaati Patupo, Ngaati Apakura te hapuu Ko Tuurangawaewae te marae Noo Ngaaruawahia ahau Ko Morunga tooku whaanau Ko Aden Miles tooku ingoa.","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/amorunga\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61516,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61511\/revisions\/61516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61511"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=61511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}