{"id":1783,"date":"2018-12-19T09:31:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T08:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/?p=1783"},"modified":"2019-11-06T09:33:43","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:33:43","slug":"eu-cuts-single-use-plastics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/pollution\/1783\/eu-cuts-single-use-plastics\/","title":{"rendered":"EU agrees unprecedented cuts to single-use plastics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>However, reduction targets missing and collection targets delayed, campaigners warn<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Brussels<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u2013 After months of intense negotiations, the EU has agreed much-anticipated laws to slash single-use plastics in the EU. The agreed text is a significant step forward in tackling plastic pollution, but does not fully address the urgency of the plastics crisis, according to Rethink Plastic and Break Free From Plastic. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These new EU rules are a great first step to fight the plastic pollution that&#8217;s choking our rivers and oceans, but there&#8217;s a risk that some plastic producers making money from this throwaway culture could be let off the hook. National governments must now commit to holding the producers accountable, and to seriously cutting the plastic production and use that threatens nature and our health,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8221; said <b>Kevin Stairs, Greenpeace EU chemicals policy director<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1546\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2018\/09\/9fbb3f7a-gp0sts79t_medium_res_with_credit_line-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2018\/09\/9fbb3f7a-gp0sts79t_medium_res_with_credit_line-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2018\/09\/9fbb3f7a-gp0sts79t_medium_res_with_credit_line-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2018\/09\/9fbb3f7a-gp0sts79t_medium_res_with_credit_line-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2018\/09\/9fbb3f7a-gp0sts79t_medium_res_with_credit_line-510x340.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2018\/09\/9fbb3f7a-gp0sts79t_medium_res_with_credit_line.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The final measures adopted [1] include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bans on several single-use plastic items including plates, cutlery and expanded polystyrene food containers and beverage cups <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ensuring manufacturers pay for waste management and clean-up of several single-use plastic items, including cigarette butts and fishing gear<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the agreement falls short of what is needed to fully tackle the plastics crisis in key areas including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No binding EU-wide target to reduce the consumption of food containers and cups, and no obligation for EU countries to adopt targets <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A delay of four years on ensuring 90% of plastic bottles are collected separately &#8211; from 2025 to 2029<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe new laws are a significant first blow to the plastic pollution monster\u201d <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">said<\/span><b> Delphine L\u00e9vi Alvar\u00e8s, European Coordinator of the Break Free From Plastic movement<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cHowever, their impact depends on the implementation by our national governments who must immediately adopt ambitious targets to cut single-use plastics, and ensure producers pay for their pollution. The public call to stop plastic pollution is loud and strong, it is unacceptable to ignore it.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tomorrow, December 20, national Environment Ministers are expected to sign off on the agreed Directive. Member States will have two years to transpose it into national laws, which should come into force at the beginning of 2021 at the latest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[1] The measures adopted include:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s good:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A EU-wide ban of single-use plastic cotton buds, straws, plates, cutlery, beverage stirrers, balloon sticks, oxo-degradable plastics, and expanded polystyrene food containers and beverage cups<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Extended Producer Responsibility schemes meaning manufacturers (including big tobacco companies and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breakfreefromplastic.org\/globalbrandauditreport2018\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">top polluters from the packaging industry like Coca Cola, Pepsico and Nestle<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) pay for the costs of waste management, clean up and awareness-raising measures for certain single-use plastics including plastic cigarette filters \u2013 the most littered item in Europe<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A possibility for EU countries to adopt market restrictions for food containers and cups for beverages<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An obligation for EU countries to reduce post-consumption waste from tobacco product filters containing plastic <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For fishing gear, an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme and a requirement for Member States to monitor collection rates and set national collection targets <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ensure all beverage bottles are produced from 30% recycled content by 2030<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Labelling on the presence of plastics in a product and resulting environmental impacts of littering, and on the appropriate waste disposal options for that product<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s not so good:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No binding EU-wide target to reduce the consumption of food containers and cups, and no obligation for EU countries to adopt targets either; instead, countries must \u201csignificantly reduce\u201d their consumption, leaving it vague and open<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A delay of 4 years in achieving the 90% collection target of beverage containers, from \u00a02025 to 2029, with an intermediary target of 77% by 2025<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Allowing for EU countries to choose to achieve consumption reduction and certain EPR measures through voluntary agreements between industry and authorities<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A 3 year delay to make sure plastic drinks containers have their caps\/lids attached to the containers &#8211; from 2021 to 2024<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These measures apply to all single-use plastics listed in the Directive\u2019s Annexes including bio-based and biodegradable plastics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Contacts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Kevin Stairs, Greenpeace EU chemicals policy director:\u00a0<\/b>kevin.stairs@greenpeace.org, +32 476 961376<\/p>\n<p><b>Greenpeace EU press desk<\/b>: +32 (0)2 274 1911,\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:pressdesk.eu@greenpeace.org\">pressdesk.eu@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For breaking news and comment on EU affairs:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEU\">www.twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. Greenpeace does not accept donations from governments, the EU, businesses or political parties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After months of intense negotiations, the EU has agreed much-anticipated laws to slash single-use plastics in the EU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"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":[47],"tags":[41,51,52],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-1783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pollution","tag-waterpollution","tag-oceans","tag-plastic","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1784,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783\/revisions\/1784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1783"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=1783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}