Is it enough? EEA assessment reveals what European countries are doing to tackle plastic waste

03 Jun 2019 --- Although there have been several promising efforts to address the problem of plastic waste, having specific prevention targets for different plastic waste is still not a widespread practice in Europe, according to a new European Environment Agency (EEA) assessment. Only nine countries have explicit targets in place for plastic waste prevention, says the report, titled Preventing plastic waste in Europe. According to the assessment, prevention of the most environmentally harmful plastic types, such as single-use plastics and non-recyclable plastic products should be further prioritized.

The EEA report provides a “state-of-play of plastic waste prevention in Europe,” listing and analyzing efforts across EEA Member Countries to address plastic waste through preventative measures. 

While fees on plastic shopping bags have led to notable results in reducing their use and waste in many countries, such measures should also be applied to other types of plastic products, the report says, for example to plastic packaging waste, which is the single largest plastic waste stream in Europe. 

The EU has recently taken action on waste prevention by introducing new measures to address plastic waste and pollution. Such measures include the European Commission’s 2018 European strategy for plastics in a circular economy and the recently adopted Single Use Plastics Directive. 

The Council of the EU last month adopted measures proposed by the European Commission to tackle marine litter by banning the ten single-use products most commonly found on European beaches. This includes cotton bud sticks, cutlery, plates, straws and stirrers and also incorporates abandoned fishing gear and oxo-degradable plastics. The Member States will now have two years to transpose the legislation into their national law.

Where alternatives are easily available and affordable, single-use plastic products will be banned from the market. For other products, the focus is on limiting their use through a national reduction in consumption; on design and labeling requirements; and waste management/clean-up obligations for producers.

Although this is a good start, there is ample room for further measures to tackle plastic waste.

“The new EU plastic rules address ten products, banning some and aiming to reduce others. To really tackle plastic pollution we must also target other products, like plastic lollipop sticks, and have stricter measures for the products already addressed, like concrete targets to reduce the production of plastic cups and food containers,” John Hyland, a spokesperson for Greenpeace EU, told PackagingInsights.

The European strategy notes that plastic recycling capacities have not kept pace with the increasing global production of plastics. Currently, in Europe, only 30 percent of plastic waste is collected for recycling. In addition, most recycling operations take place outside Europe, where environmental practices and standards may differ.

• The key findings of the report included:
  Plastic waste has been declared a priority waste stream in nearly half of the EEA member countries.
• Of the 173 waste prevention measures identified, 105 cover the production phase of plastic products and 69 cover the consumption phase. With the exception of national actions, such as a levy on plastic carrier bags, the majority of the identified prevention measures consist of voluntary agreements and information activities.
• Around 20 percent of the measures (i.e., 37 of the 173 measures identified) are market-based instruments. Of these, the majority relate to the charging of fees to consumers for use of plastic carrier bags.
• A total of 30 voluntary agreements on plastic waste prevention have been started involving different sets of stakeholders in the countries reviewed. They often include specific targets that are monitored by internal or external parties.
• Only nine countries have explicit waste prevention targets included in their prevention programs. Clear and coherent targets, that are helpful to drive innovation and improve waste practices, are still lacking for most product groups and thus the levels of activity and ambition differ among the countries.
• Good practice examples identified include both regulatory initiatives such as a ban on certain plastic products and softer measures such as stakeholder agreements to reduce the consumption of plastic products (mainly packaging), and training and capacity building. Unfortunately, there are very few cases where the adopted initiatives have been properly evaluated, making progress hard to assess.