European Union to ban plastic by 2021

The European Parliament voted to ban single-use plastics across the board in an attempt to stop the plastic pollution making its way into the oceans and effecting the marine ecosystem.

Single-use plastic products include straws, plates, cups and cotton buds, and can take several centuries to degrade in the oceans where they are observed to be consumed by marine life. As per the European Commission, such plastics make up to 70 percent of all marine litter.

A ban was proposed in May 2018, after the public outcry and awareness over the issue reached a new zenith. A vote at the European Parliament was held earlier this week, with a huge majority of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) – 571 with the motion to 53 against, with 34 abstentions – agreeing to enforce the ban by 2021.

Apart from the 2021 complete ban on single-use plastic products, the use of plastics for which no alternatives currently exist – mostly food packaging – will have to be cut down by 25 percent and beverage bottles to be collected and recycled at the rate of 90 percent by 2025. Cigarette butts, remarkably resilient components of plastic pollution, will have to be reduced by 50 percent by 2025, and 80 percent by 2030.

In addition to this, at least 50 per cent of lost or abandoned fishing gear containing plastic will be collected per year, with a recycling target of at least 15 per cent by 2025. Fishing gear represents 27 per cent of the waste found on Europe’s beaches.