The European Parliament votes to ban single-use plastics.

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The vote of the MEPs opens the way for the law to take effect in 2021 across the EU.  The directive will focus on common trash on the beach, as well as on polystyrene cups and those made of oxo-degradable plastics. The European Parliament has voted in favor of banning single-use plastic cutlery, cotton swabs, straws and agitators as part of a general law against plastic waste that destroys beaches and pollutes the oceans.

 

The vote of MEPs paves the way for the prohibition of single-use plastics to come into force in 2021 in all EU member states. The United Kingdom would have to follow the rules if it participated and extended the Brexit transition period due to delays in the search for a new agreement with the EU. The UK environment secretary, Michael Gove, who previously met with the European Commission about who is doing more to reduce plastic pollution, also wants to stop single-use plastics.

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In addition to targeting the most common plastic beach sand, the directive will ban

single-use polystyrene cups and those made of oxo-degradable plastics that disintegrate into small fragments. EU member states will have to introduce measures to reduce the use of plastic food containers and plastic caps for hot drinks.

 

By 2025, plastic bottles should be made with 25% recycled content, and by 2029, 90% of them should be recycled. The EU is also addressing the scourge of wet wipes that help clog the sewers in the form of "fatberg". Wet wipes, sanitary napkins, tobacco filters and cups will be labeled if they are made of plastic. The package will warn consumers of the environmental damage they do when disposing of these items incorrectly. The "polluter pays" principle will be extended to the manufacturers of fishing nets so that companies, but not the fishing crews, pay the cost of the nets lost at sea.

 

Frans Timmermans, a vice president of the

European Commission, who has spearheaded the

plan, said: "Today we have taken an important step

to reduce litter and plastic pollution in our oceans

and seas. We have this, we can do this. Europe is

setting new and ambitious standards, paving the

way for the rest of the world. " At the Strasbourg

session, 560 deputies voted in favor of the recent

agreement signed with the EU ministers, 35

against and 28 abstentions. The directive only has

to go through the procedures before it is published

in the EU regulation. Once that happens, the member

states of the EU will have two years to implement

the directive.