{"id":93086,"date":"2018-07-10T13:13:51","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T11:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eeb.org\/?p=93086"},"modified":"2018-12-18T14:39:24","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T13:39:24","slug":"eu-parliament-backs-microplastic-bans-to-tackle-plastic-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/eu-parliament-backs-microplastic-bans-to-tackle-plastic-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Parliament backs microplastic bans to tackle plastic pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>The European Parliament&#8217;s environment committee today voted to strengthen the European Commission\u2019s overall plans to cut plastic pollution, under the so-called Plastics Strategy.<\/h4>\n<p>On behalf of the Rethink Plastic alliance, Meadhbh Bolger, resource justice campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe environment committee has recognised that the Commission\u2019s plans to tackle plastic pollution must be strengthened to protect our oceans. Today\u2019s vote gives a strong signal that more can and must be done to cut off the flood of plastics at source, and national governments across Europe must rise to the challenge.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>The European Environmental Bureau is one of the leading members of the Rethink Plastic Alliance, a coalition of NGOs working to reduce plastic pollution in the EU through ambitious laws.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The environment committee called for a number of measures that go beyond the Commission\u2019s original proposals, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A ban on microplastics in cosmetics, personal care, detergents and cleaning products by 2020, and minimum requirements to tackle other sources of microplastics<\/li>\n<li>A complete ban on oxo-degradable plastics \u2013 a source of microplastic pollution \u2013 by 2020 [1]<\/li>\n<li>A recognition that biodegradable and compostable plastics do not prevent plastic waste in our oceans and should not be an excuse to keep using single-use plastics<\/li>\n<li>Any financial contribution from taxing plastics should go towards preventing plastic waste generation<\/li>\n<li>The reduction of hazardous substances in plastics, to ensure that what is recycled is free from dangerous chemicals [2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bolger continued: \u201cThere&#8217;s a lot of greenwashing going on to try and present bio-based and biodegradable plastics as a silver bullet \u2013 but this is a sideshow, distracting from the real solutions: reduction and reuse. Bio-based and biodegradable plastics pollute our beaches and seas just like conventional plastics, and should be treated as such. It is hugely positive that the Parliament acknowledges this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, the environment committee failed to back measures to tackle pollution from industrially-produced plastic pellets, which are melted down to make everyday plastic items. \u00a0It also failed to support stronger economic incentives to reduce plastic production and consumption.\u00a0[3]<\/p>\n<p>The full European Parliament will vote in September on the environment committee\u2019s response to the Commission\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n<p><em>ENDS<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTES:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] Oxo-degradables plastics are supposedly biodegradable plastics, which in reality break down into small fragments and contribute to harmful microplastic pollution in the oceans and other ecosystems.<\/p>\n<p>[2] The Environment Committee also reminded the Commission of the EU commitment laid down in the 7th Environmental Action Programme (<a href=\"https:\/\/zerowasteeurope.us3.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=8cbf453c18e9074b9004eb8a0&amp;id=d1526140fc&amp;e=d1ece746e1\">https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/?uri=CELEX:32013D1386<\/a>) for the development of non-toxic material cycles. This is fundamental to ensure that the circular economy is a success for the environment.<\/p>\n<p>[3] Effective economic incentives would include Extended Producer Responsibility fees for all plastic and plastic containing items, not only for packaging as is in current law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Parliament&#8217;s environment committee today voted to strengthen the European Commission\u2019s overall plans to cut plastic pollution, under the so-called Plastics Strategy. On behalf of<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":89239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138,137,139],"tags":[308],"class_list":["post-93086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-circular-economy","category-resource-efficiency","category-waste-recycling","tag-plastic-pollution"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/bottles-beach.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}