EU Agrees to Slash Single-Use Plastics to Halt Marine Pollution

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Encouraging news on the fight against plastic pollution! Europe is one step closer to banning some of the most common single-use plastics to help protect the environment and reduce marine litter. Negotiators from the European Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on Wednesday to reduce use or eliminate plastic products such as cigarette butts, straws, bottles, cutlery and cotton buds. The European Commission—the EU’s executive arm—first introduced the sweeping proposal in May . If it becomes law, the directive "will reduce the environmental damage bill by €22 billion—the estimated cost of plastic pollution in Europe until 2030," said Belgian MEP Frédérique Ries, who helped lead the 12.5-hour negotiations , in a press release . The move would place the European Union as a world leader in slashing use of the material. Just yesterday, Britain’s Royal Statistical Society highlighted that 90.5 percent of all plastic waste has never been recycled, leaving the vast majority of this trash accumulating in landfills or the natural environment. "Europe now has a legislative model to defend and promote at [an] international level, given the global nature of the issue of marine pollution involving plastics," Ries added. The new rules would ban throwaway plastics […]

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