Tiny bottles of shampoo, flimsy grocery bags and various other single-use plastics might soon vanish from the European Union as lawmakers in the world's largest trading bloc edge closer to implementing additional bans on specific plastic items.
Other items facing prohibition include single-use packaging for fruit, vegetables and condiments in restaurants, where staff will be required to allow customers to bring their own reusable cups and containers with them when they dine in.
The latest proposed restrictions come after the EU in 2021 banned plastic items such as straws and cutlery – and after the European Parliament, this week voted in favor of requiring manufacturers to fix broken gadgets in an effort to reduce waste.
According to a European Parliament statement, the bloc’s plastic packaging waste "increased from 66 million tonnes in 2009 to 84 million tonnes in 2021." Other estimates put the global total of plastic waste at 400 million tonnes a year.
"We now call on all industrial sectors, EU countries and consumers to play their part in the fight against excess packaging," said Belgian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Frederique Ries.
Virginia Janssens, managing director of industry organization Plastics Europe, said the proposals, though "ambitious," could be "an important milestone in the transition to a circular (recycling) plastics economy."
Some environmental groups were quick to criticize the measures, however. "MEPs are essentially handing European consumers an umbrella full of holes in a rainstorm of greenwashing," said Lauriane Veillard from the organization network Zero Waste Europe.
After MEPs endorse the curbs in an April 24 vote, the proposals are to be put to member-state governments, which will have to make sure 90% of permitted single-use plastics and cans are recycled via deposit return schemes – if they agree to pass the measures into law.
