The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly last Wednesday for an EU-wide ban on single-use plastics such as straws, cutlery, cotton buds and balloon sticks.
The European Commission, the 28-nation EU’s executive arm, proposed banning such items that it said account for 70 percent of the waste in the oceans and beaches. The European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, voted for the ban on single-use plastic by 571 votes for and 53 against, with 34 abstentions. The legislation, which supporters want to take effect by 2021, must still be approved in negotiations involving the member states, parliament and the commission.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said the vote put “the EU on track as a global leader in reducing plastic pollution and pioneering stronger circular economies.” However, it said the parliament missed an opportunity to close a legal loophole on the definition of single-use plastics, adding it allows products to be labelled re-usable when they may not be.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
The manufacturers associations PlasticsEurope said the measures are “disproportionate,” adding bans discourage investment needed to develop ways to recycle plastics. Like the WWF, it said single-use plastics definitions remain “ambiguous.”
Ambitious legislation
Under the ban, drinks bottles and other plastics will also have to be collected separately and recycled at a rate of 90 percent by 2025.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
The ambitious legislation calls for reducing waste from tobacco products, especially cigarette filters containing plastic, by 50 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2030. Cigarette butts can take up to 12 years to disintegrate when thrown on a road, the parliament said.
The bill calls on member countries to ensure that at least 50 percent of lost or abandoned fishing gear containing plastic is collected annually. It calls for recycling at least 15 percent of fishing gear — which accounts for 27 percent of the litter on Europe’s beaches — by 2025.
It also calls for member states to ensure that tobacco firms and producers of fishing gear containing plastic cover the costs of waste collection for those products and help meet the recycling target.
Photo: EPA
照片：歐新社
The European Commission has said businesses will benefit from one set of rules for an EU market of around 500 million people. It said it will encourage EU companies to develop economies of scale and become more competitive in the “booming” global market for sustainable products.
The EU push to crack down on plastic use follows China’s decision to ban imports of foreign waste products for recycling.
(AFP)
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
歐洲議會上週三以壓倒性的多數通過一項禁令，將在歐盟禁用吸管、餐具、棉花棒和氣球桿等一次性塑膠製品。
歐盟執行委員會是歐盟二十八國的執行機構，提議要禁用一次性塑膠品，因為它們佔了海洋和海灘廢棄物的百分之七十。法國史特拉斯堡的歐洲議會以五七一票贊成、五十三票反對、三十四票棄權，通過了對一次性塑膠品的禁令。支持者希望能在二○二一年生效的此項立法，仍須經歐盟成員國、議會和委員會協商批准。
世界自然基金會表示，此次投票顯示「歐盟正成為減少塑膠污染、開拓更強大循環經濟的全球領導者」；但它也表示，議會錯失了修補「一次性塑膠」定義的法律漏洞的機會，因為它讓產品即便沒有重複使用，也可以標記為可重複使用。
歐洲塑膠製造業者組織「歐洲塑膠」（PlasticsEurope）表示，這些措施「不成比例」，增加禁令阻礙了開發塑膠回收方法所需的投資。歐洲塑膠和世界自然基金會一樣，都表示一次性塑膠的定義仍然「含糊不清」。
雄心勃勃的立法
這項禁令規定飲料瓶和其他塑膠必須分開回收，飲料瓶的回收率在二○二五年前要達百分之九十。
該立法也要求減少菸草產品的廢棄物，特別是含有塑膠的香菸濾嘴，到二○二五年要減少百分之五十，二○三○年減少百分之八十。歐洲議會指出，菸蒂若丟在地上，可能需要長達十二年的時間才能夠分解。
該法案呼籲成員國，確保每年收回至少百分之五十的遺失或廢棄的含塑膠之漁具；到了二○二五年，至少百分之十五的漁具要得到回收。廢棄漁具佔了歐洲海灘垃圾的百分之二十七。
法案也要求成員國，應確保菸草公司及含塑膠漁具之生產商負擔該產品廢棄物的回收成本，並協助達成回收目標。
歐盟執委會表示，企業將受益於這一套法規，在擁有約五億人口的歐盟市場獲利；這套法規將鼓勵歐盟公司發展規模經濟，並在全球蓬勃發展的永續產品市場中更具競爭力。
在中國決定禁止進口外國廢棄物進行回收後，歐盟決定嚴格管理塑膠使用。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
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