Commission opens public consultation on reducing plastic bag use
The European Commission is seeking views from the public on how best to reduce the use of plastic carrier bags. Opinions will also be asked on increasing the visibility of biodegradable packaging products, and boosting the biodegradability requirements for packaging.
The public consultation opened by the Commission will seek views on how to reduce plastic bag use. It will also ask if charging and taxation would be effective, or if other options such as an EU-level ban on plastic carrier bags would be better. The web-based consultation runs until August 2011.
The longevity of plastic bags means that there are now some 250 billion plastic particles with a combined weight of 500 tonnes floating in the Mediterranean Sea alone. The environmental issue comes from the fact that these particles can cause suffocation in sea creatures that ingest them accidentally or mistake them for food. In addition, plastics break into tiny particles, and have a high potential for contaminating soil and waterways as they may contain additives such as persistent organic pollutants.
Besides these data, the average EU citizen consumes approximately 500 plastic carrier bags every year, and most of them are used only once. In March 2011 EU environment ministers discussed the environmental impact of plastic carrier bags and the concerns they raised indicated that effective EU action is needed. Therefore, some Member States have already taken action to reduce the use of plastic carrier bags through pricing measures, agreements with the retail sector and bans on certain types of bags.
The survey also aims to gather views on the adequacy of current requirements on biodegradability in the EU Packaging Directive. The Directive doesn't allow for a clear distinction between 'biodegradable products' that should biodegrade in natural conditions in the environment, and 'compostable products' that only biodegrade in industrial composting facilities. Advertising a packaging product as biodegradable when in fact it will not biodegrade in natural conditions can be misleading, and contributes to the proliferation of litter.