Europe's local governments call for 80% reduction and ban of free plastic bags
7 Apr 2014 04:21 PM
Plans to reduce the number of plastic bags in
Europe came under fire as local and regional authorities criticised the
proposals as lacking ambition. With nearly 100 billion plastic bags used each
year, members of the EU’s Committee of the Regions approved a report
setting out far tougher proposals than those laid out by the European
Commission. The Committee calls for an outright ban of free plastic bags by
2020, mandatory EU targets to reduce the number of single-use plastic bags for
all member states and obligatory charges for all carrier
bags.
There is broad consensus that something must be done to
curb the growing numbers of plastic bags with estimations indicating the
average EU citizen uses 198 plastic carrier bags each year, 90% of which are
lightweight. Nevertheless, deciding the right approach that must be taken by
the EU has been the focus of much debate and was centre of discussions of an
opinion led by UK’s Cllr Linda Gillham from
Runnymede Borough Council. The Committee’s members unanimously voted in
favour of the opinion which recognises that there are a range of different
measures already put in place by member states from voluntary charging in
Belgium, Denmark and Ireland, to an outright ban of non-biodegradable carrier
bags in Italy.
Nevertheless, the Committee’s members raised
concerned that action must be taken to deal with the considerable differences
between member states with figures suggesting that in some countries, such as
Denmark and Finland, the average number of use is 4 plastic bags per person in
comparison to 466 in Poland, Portugal and Slovakia. In contrast to the original
plans released by the Commission, the Committee wants to broaden the scope of
the definition of single-use plastic bags, ban all single-use plastic bags by
2020 and introduce mandatory charging for multi-use carrier bags. With the
environmental impact especially on marine life well documented, binding
EU-level reduction and prevention targets, instead of voluntary national
reduction targets, must also be introduced.
Cllr Gillham commented: "Plastic waste in our
environment, especially in the seas, is a global problem. Introducing mandatory
charges for plastic bags is a simple and sensible step forward for Europe. This
measure reduces the number of lightweight plastic bags that too easily blow
around getting caught in trees and washed into the seas, whilst raising money
to help with the clean-up".
Contact:<
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David French
Tel: +32 2 282 2535
Mobile: +32 473 85 47 59
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