EU to reduce plastic bag consumption by 80 per cent

Members states of the European Union (EU) will have to reduce the amount of plastic bags consumed by 80 per cent by 2019, according to a draft amendment to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive backed by the European Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) yesterday (10 March).

Under the draft amendment (first proposed in November 2013), which aims to reduce the amount of plastic bags littered (as they can cause environmental damage, especially when trapped in waterways), member states will be required to reduce consumption of ‘the most common and polluting plastic bags’ by at least 50 per cent by 2017 and by 80 per cent by 2019.

The law will relate to lightweight plastic bags with a thickness below 50 microns, which reportedly represent the majority of plastic bags currently used in the EU.

MEPs recommend that member states achieve this reduction in consumption through economic instruments such as taxes and levies, marketing restrictions or bans (such as that already in place in Wales).

The legislation will also require that any lightweight bags used to protect food (such as loose fruits, vegetables and confectionary) will need to be made of recycled paper or biodegradable and compostable material by 2019.

Further, it has been proposed that legislation for compostable packaging should be amended so as to ‘ensure that a European standard for garden composting is developed’ and that the law regarding biodegradable packaging is changed so that only materials that are ‘fully biodegraded’ are considered to be biodegradable.

Delivering a ‘significant and swift reduction in single-use plastic bags’

The draft law is based on a report written by Green MEP Margrete Auken (who is also the rapporteur for the draft law), and was approved by 44 votes to 10 on Monday (with six abstentions).

Auken said: "MEPs have voted for EU legislation that would deliver a significant and swift reduction in single-use plastic bags. As front-running countries in the EU and beyond have demonstrated, dramatically reducing the consumption of these plastic bags is easily achievable with a coherent policy.

"Swiftly phasing-out these bags is a very low-hanging fruit on the list of solutions to the pervasive problem of plastic waste in the environment.

"MEPs also supported provisions to ensure mandatory pricing of plastic bags in the food sector, as well as a strong recommendation to do so in the non-food sector, too. Putting a price on single-use bags is a proven and highly effective policy tool for reducing their excessive consumption."

The text will be put to a vote at the 14-17 April plenary session in Strasbourg.

Opposition to the amendment

Despite the majority of ENVI members supporting the amendment, there have been concerns voiced by MEPs that the law does not go far enough to reduce plastic bag litter.

Italian MEP and rapporteur for the European Commission’s strategy on plastic waste in the environment Vittorio Prodi wrote an article for The Parliament website, arguing that the proposals serve ‘more [as] a theoretical suggestion than a concrete, legislative decision’.

He wrote: ‘We asked for robust measures to end the floating of 80 million tonnes of plastics in the oceans; we are worried about plastics’ dangerous components entering the food chain and the consequences for human and animal health.

 We get, instead, an invitation to member states to ‘dare’ to reduce, through whichever means they deem appropriate, the consumption of lightweight shoppers, thinner than 50 micron, which is 0.05 mm.

‘What about the other plastic bags, the thicker ones? They can still be consumed and littered? They can still float on our seas for decades? What about the dangerous oxo-degradable plastic bags?’

He said the proposals could have instead ‘tackled all plastic packaging, which represents 40 per cent of all plastic waste’.

This suggestion has been lambasted by the Packaging and Films Association, which argued that relying on biodegradable products over plastic could ‘lead the consumer to believe that it’s OK to litter as any product littered will simply disappear with time’. 

Read more about the amendment to the packaging and packaging waste law.