bioplasticsMAGAZINE_1406
bioplasticsMAGAZINE_1406
bioplasticsMAGAZINE_1406
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Politics<br />
By:<br />
Harald Kaeb<br />
narocon InnovationConsulting<br />
Berlin, Germany<br />
allow bans for single-use plastic bags<br />
to achieve this goal. This would occur in<br />
derogation of the Article 18 which obliges<br />
MS not to impede the placing on their<br />
market packaging which satisfies the<br />
provisions of the PPWD. Such exemption<br />
can only be justified to tackle serious<br />
risks and minimize damages.<br />
The EU Bagislation proposal would<br />
affect only single-use bags with “a<br />
thickness below 50 µm”, which is the<br />
proposed criteria to separate singleuse<br />
from reusable bags. Heavier<br />
plastic bags are not supposed to have<br />
negative effects, they are not prone to<br />
littering, can be reused more often and<br />
recycling is feasible. The EU Parliament<br />
(EP) made many amendments to the<br />
EC proposal in its first reading on 16 th<br />
April 2014 [3]. For instance, the EP<br />
wants to set binding reduction targets<br />
of 50 % and later 80 %. Because of<br />
the benefits it would also allow a<br />
50 % reduction of mandatory charges<br />
for biodegradable and compostable<br />
single-use plastic bags to incentivize<br />
(or at least enable) their use. Some EU<br />
countries have biodegradable-preferred<br />
policies in place (Table 2). This refers to<br />
the EN 13432 standard to qualify such<br />
bags, but is also called on to develop<br />
a standard for home compostability<br />
ensuring that these bags would also<br />
biodegrade rapidly enough on private<br />
backyard composts. In October 2014 the<br />
first tripartite talks took place to prepare<br />
an agreement between the EP and the<br />
Council of Member States, moderated by<br />
the EC. Several MS already had imposed<br />
Bagislation and had significantly<br />
reduced consumption. They criticized<br />
the 80 % target for the EP which they<br />
say would neglect their efforts. MS were<br />
pointing out their individual situation,<br />
especially with regard to the national<br />
waste management and recycling policy.<br />
It is unlikely that an agreement can be<br />
reached by 2014, thus implementation<br />
at MS level will not take place before<br />
2017.<br />
Estonia<br />
Hungary<br />
Lativa<br />
Lithuania<br />
Poland<br />
Portugal<br />
Slovakia<br />
Slovenia<br />
Czech Republic<br />
Romania<br />
Bulgaria<br />
Greece<br />
Italy<br />
EU-27 (average)<br />
UK<br />
Cyprus<br />
Spain<br />
Malta<br />
Sweden<br />
Belgium<br />
France<br />
Netherlands<br />
Germany<br />
Austria<br />
Ireland<br />
Luxembourg<br />
Denmark<br />
Finland<br />
Fig. 1: Plastic bag consumption 2010 [1]<br />
kg / Inh · yr<br />
250<br />
200<br />
150<br />
100<br />
50<br />
0<br />
206<br />
182<br />
143<br />
114<br />
101<br />
86 85<br />
100 200 300 400 500<br />
43 42 42<br />
Specific collection<br />
31 30<br />
Multiple Use Plastic Bags<br />
Single Use Plastic Carrier Bags<br />
NL AT DK LU DE FI BE FR SE IT UK IE SK CZ HU ES PT PL GR BG CY EE LT LV MT RO SI<br />
EU Production (Tonnes)<br />
Single-use non-biodegradable 239 250<br />
Single-use biodegradable 10 831<br />
Multiple-use 873 993<br />
Total plastic bags produced 1 124 074<br />
EU27 = 48 kg / Inh · yr<br />
13 13 13 7<br />
3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0<br />
Fig. 2: Implementation of separate collections across the EU (source: [4])<br />
Tab 1: Breakdown of EU plastic carrier bag production 2010 by weight [1]<br />
bioplastics MAGAZINE [06/14] Vol. 9 45