Less plastic, more awareness. The European Union takes up the challenge
Environment — di Valentina Neri
The European Union has made a bold decision: to ban certain single-use plastic items. But this is only the first stage of a long journey.
Less plastic, more awareness. The European Union takes up the challenge
The European Union has made a bold decision: to ban certain single-use plastic items. But this is only the first stage of a long journey.
There is something that the dazzling white coves of Sardinia share with the rugged Norwegian fjords. Both are threatened by one of the most serious environmental emergencies of our time: plastic. Every year, between 150,000 and 500,000 tonnes of plastic waste end up in the seas of the European Union. With all that this entails for ecosystems and for the economy too: environmental damage is estimated to cost as much as 22 billion euros by 2030. The quantity of microplastics (that is, tiny particles) dispersed in the environment — either directly or through the fragmentation of larger waste — fluctuates between 75,000 and 300,000 tonnes.
In recent years this has become one of the absolute priorities for the European Parliament, which is tackling it both upstream, with the aim of reducing use (and, consequently, the amount of waste), and downstream, with the aim of increasing the share of recycling. The initiatives being set in motion are set to revolutionise our habits and, precisely for that reason, cannot simply be imposed from above. It is essential that they be met by a citizenry that is informed, attentive and willing to play its part.
Less single-use plastic thanks to the European Parliament
First and foremost, then, the use of plastic must be limited to cases where it is truly the best (or the only) possible option. At present, packaging takes the lion's share, accounting for 40 per cent of European production. A further 22 per cent goes to furniture and household goods, 20 per cent to building and construction materials, and 9 per cent to cars and trucks. Finally, another 6 per cent is used for electrical and electronic materials.
Watch the second episode of the column L'Unione fa la Terra, edited by Eva Giovannini
"We need to change our approach. We must not create things without considering the consequences. Rather, let us consider the consequences and adapt the product accordingly. One example above all: the straw has always been made of plastic. Now we have decided it can be made of paper, or glass, bamboo, steel. Materials that have existed for a long time, but were never considered," argues Lucia Vuolo, MEP for the Identity and Democracy group.
On this front the European Parliament has shown itself to be resolute. It first introduced strong restrictions on the use of lightweight plastic bags, which since 2018 can no longer be provided free of charge. It then called on the Commission to prevent microplastics from being intentionally added to cosmetic formulations; in this case, however, the process will take longer because the proposal had to be scrutinised by the European Chemicals Agency (Echa). After that, it approved the directive that from July of this year bans single-use plastic cutlery, plates and balloon sticks — items that have a useful life of just a few minutes yet, conversely, pollute for centuries.
The indomitable Pasquale, better known as "nonno plastic free", knows all about this. A native of Abruzzo, aged 94, he spends his summers like this: every morning he gets behind the wheel, drives to the beach, sets up his chair and collects bottles and rubbish. "Our Planet is beautiful, it is enchanting; it is only we who do not behave well," he concludes.
A pandemic of plastic has broken out
An already highly complicated problem has, however, been compounded by the pandemic. Over recent months, even the most ardent environmentalists have surrendered to the omnipresence of disposable gloves, face masks and bags in which to seal objects in an attempt to avoid contamination. And it does not stop there. Unable to get around, people have got into the habit of ordering their fruit and vegetables, their indispensable face masks, the most varied consumer goods (from jumpers to school notebooks) and dishes from their favourite restaurant delivered to their door. All of them, needless to say, packaged in plastic materials. "To grasp the complexity of the problem you only have to look up and glance around you. Plastic is everywhere," comments Lucia Vuolo.
Tra i vari danni fatti dal coronavirus c'è anche quello ambientale. La plastica monouso è tornata di moda e in strada si vedono spesso mascherine buttate via o perse. Il covid passerà ma la plastica lasciata in giro durerà molto ma molto di più. Ricordiamocelo!
The European Parliament has not stood idly by, but has proposed to the Commission that packaging — including takeaway food containers — be reduced, recyclability improved, packaging complexity minimised and reuse promoted. It is Eleonora Evi, MEP for the Greens–European Free Alliance group, who tells LifeGate about this; she sits — alongside Vuolo — on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (Envi).
Virgin and recycled plastic: the figures don't add up
In cases where plastic simply cannot be avoided, it is desirable that this plastic be secondary — that is, produced from recycled material rather than from oil. The European Parliament has moved in this direction, calling on the Commission to establish quality standards for recycled plastic and to require that it be used to manufacture certain types of product. In short, a market that is currently very small needs to be given a boost: if we set European demand for plastic at 100, recycled plastic accounts for just 6.
This logical principle, however, runs up against an economic obstacle. With the transport paralysis of recent months, the price of oil has plummeted. The result? A boom in demand for plastic at precisely the moment when it was available at rock-bottom prices. After Covid-19, producing a bottle from recycled raw material means bearing a cost that exceeds that of virgin raw material by 83–93 per cent. This is according to an analysis by Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (Icis), cited by Reuters. It comes as no surprise, then, that recycling operators, when contacted by the British news agency, report a 20 per cent fall in their business volume in Europe.
"Everyone today is affected by plastic but we have the solution." Ali Skanda
This year, @theflipflopi - the world’s first recycled plastic dhow ⛵, will set sail upstream to Lake Victoria 🇰🇪 🇺🇬 🇹🇿, to encourage & promote circular solutions to #BeatPollution for #CleanSeas.
This year, @theflipflopi - the world’s first recycled plastic dhow ⛵, will set sail upstream to Lake Victoria 🇰🇪 🇺🇬 🇹🇿, to encourage & promote circular solutions to #BeatPollution for #CleanSeas.
Over the next five years, the global fossil fuel giants plan to spend around 400 billion dollars on production facilities for virgin plastic raw materials, a study by Carbon Tracker reveals. Far more modest — just 2 billion dollars — are the investments earmarked for reducing the amount of waste. It is a shame, however, that producing four bottles (a trifle even for a single person's consumption) generates greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those produced by driving a car for more than one and a half kilometres.
Is there a way out? Evi proposes two: eliminating subsidies to fossil fuels and supporting the secondary raw materials market through targeted tax incentives. Looking even further ahead, she aspires to "introduce environmental taxation that benefits clean products and penalises those with an impact" — in other words, a kind of "green VAT, because as long as we continue to incentivise fossil fuels, the production of virgin plastic will always enjoy a competitive advantage over recycled plastic". Vuolo, for her part, suggests working together with industry operators without burdening them with further costs.
Una delle proposte del Parlamento europeo per le nuove fonti di entrata dell’UE è un contributo basato su rifiuti da imballaggi di plastica non riciclati. Quali sono le altre proposte? Leggi 👉 eptwitter.eu/qtV2
More recycling is needed, across Europe
Recycled plastic is so expensive partly because an enormous quantity of raw material is needed to produce it. The equation follows naturally: as the share of material sent for recycling increases, costs fall and the market strengthens. This is why, among the European Parliament's objectives, there is also a plan to revise the rules on the so-called "essential requirements" for plastic packaging, to ensure that all of it is reusable or recyclable by 2030.
There is still a great deal of work to be done on this front too. Every year, EU citizens generate 26 million tonnes of plastic waste: 39 per cent ends up in incinerators, 31 per cent in landfill, and only 30 per cent is collected for recycling. A still very low proportion that, what is more, varies considerably from country to country: while Latvia manages to recycle more than 80 per cent of its packaging, neighbouring Estonia does not even reach 30 per cent, on a par with France and Finland. Where recycling infrastructure is lacking, the only solution is to ship waste abroad: in Europe, this happens in 50 per cent of cases.
In October 2020, a reprimand also arrived from the European Court of Auditors: on the basis of the available data, it argues, it is unlikely that the EU will manage to recycle 50 per cent of plastic packaging by 2025 and 55 per cent by 2030, as envisaged by the strategy adopted by the Commission in 2018. Among the various types of packaging, paradoxically it is plastic ones — such as water bottles or yoghurt pots — that have the lowest recycling rate, barely above 40 per cent.
Such a low recycling rate is a failure. An economic one, because 95 per cent of the value of packaging materials evaporates after the first use cycle. And an environmental one, because producing and incinerating plastic emits enormous quantities of CO2 (around 400 million tonnes per year, globally). The resources of the Next Generation EU fund, if properly directed by individual member states through their recovery and resilience plans, will certainly be able to help, according to Evi.
"We must avoid, however, falling back into the logic that says 'let's build the plants and we'll recycle everything'. That's not how it works," she clarifies. "In short, rec