This Wednesday, the plenary session of the European Parliament has approved the regulation that will ban some of the most popular disposable plastic items as of 2021, including polystyrene food containers. The goal is to reduce their impact on the environment.
MEPs have backed the agreement reached in December with 560 votes in favor, 35 against and 28 abstentions. The Twenty-eight, meanwhile, already greenlighted the legislation in mid-January.
According to estimations from the European Union, these plastics represent about 70 percent of the plastic waste that pollutes the waters and beaches within EU territory. The end goal of the measures is to eradicate the use of plastic items for which environmentally-friendly alternatives already exist.
Other articles to be banned in the European Union in just over two years are those made from oxo-degradable plastic, considered especially harmful to the environment, as they contain additives that do not disappear completely and negatively affect the recycling process.
The Member States also plan to adopt the necessary measures to ensure that by 2030, at least 30% of the materials in plastic bottles are recyclable.
The objective is to reduce the waste of these products by half with the aim of preventing environmental damage, which would entail costs amounting to 230,000 million Euro by 2030 and the emission of 3.4 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).
In the debate that took place before the vote, the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, highlighted that the directive "is putting the European plastics economy on a sustainable path and the EU at the forefront of global action."
In his opinion, the new legislation "will help change the way" in which the community block designs, consumes and manages plastic products and will significantly reduce the impact of plastics pollution on the environment, especially on the marine environment. "If we don't change our ways, we will choke our oceans in plastic; the scientific evidence is undeniable," warned the Dutchman.
Source: rtve.es/Agencies