{"id":3574,"date":"2018-10-24T13:05:46","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T13:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/single-use-plastics-ban-approved-by-european-parliament\/"},"modified":"2018-10-24T13:05:46","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T13:05:46","slug":"single-use-plastics-ban-approved-by-european-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/single-use-plastics-ban-approved-by-european-parliament\/","title":{"rendered":"Single-use plastics ban approved by European Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Ocean plastic is often eaten by sea animals, with fatal results
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The European Parliament has voted for a complete ban on a range of single-use plastics across the union in a bid to stop pollution of the oceans.<\/p>\n

MEPs backed a ban on plastic cutlery and plates, cotton buds, straws, drink-stirrers and balloon sticks.<\/p>\n

The proposal also calls for a reduction in single-use plastic for food and drink containers like plastic cups.<\/p>\n

One MEP said, if no action was taken, “by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans”.<\/p>\n

The European Commission proposed a ban in May, following a surge in public support attributed to documentaries such as David Attenborough’s BBC Blue Planet series.<\/p>\n

The measure still has to clear some procedural hurdles, but is expected to go through. The EU hopes it will go into effect across the bloc by 2021.<\/p>\n

The UK will also have to incorporate the rules into national law if the ban becomes a fully-fledged directive before the end of a Brexit transition period.<\/p>\n

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After the Parliament vote was backed by 571-53, the MEP responsible for the bill, Fr\u00e9d\u00e9rique Ries, said it was “a victory for our oceans, for the environment and for future generations.”<\/p>\n

Several countries are already considering proposals to target disposable plastic products – including the UK.<\/p>\n

What’s being banned?<\/h2>\n

The directive targets some of the most common ocean-polluting plastics. <\/p>\n

The list of banned items such as cutlery and cotton buds was chosen<\/a> because there are readily available alternatives, such as paper straws and cardboard containers.<\/p>\n

Other items, “where no alternative exists” will still have to be reduced by 25% in each country by 2025. Examples given include burger boxes and sandwich wrappers.<\/p>\n

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MEPs also tacked on amendments to the plans for cigarette filters, a plastic pollutant that is common litter on beaches. Cigarette makers will have to reduce the plastic by 50% by 2025 and 80% by 2030.<\/p>\n

Another ambitious target is to ensure 90% of all plastic drinks bottles are collected for recycling by 2025. Currently, bottles and their lids account for about 20% of all the sea plastic, the European Parliament report said. <\/p>\n

Manufacturers will also have to take more responsibility for what happens to their plastic products and packaging.<\/p>\n

How big is the problem?<\/h2>\n

The EU’s research on the topic says about 150,000 tonnes of plastic are tossed into European waters every year.<\/p>\n

That is only a small contributor to the global problem, with an estimated eight million tonnes of plastic entering the world’s oceans annually. And once there, plastic can travel great distances on ocean currents.<\/p>\n

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Those plastics have a huge effect on marine life.<\/p>\n

Fish and large aquatic mammals can be killed by the pollution. Whales can eat plastic bags, making it impossible for them to eat real food<\/a> which can eventually lead to death.<\/p>\n

When plastic debris breaks down from wear and tear, it does not decompose the way other products like wood do – but instead breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, becoming “microplastic”.<\/p>\n

These tiny fragments often end up in fish<\/a> and can then be passed on to humans.<\/p>\n

Large volumes of plastic waste wash up on beaches, where they can be eaten by sea birds and other animals and kill them.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source<\/a> by [author_name]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ocean plastic is often eaten by sea animals, with fatal results The European Parliament has voted for a complete ban on a range of single-use plastics across the union in a bid to stop pollution of the oceans. MEPs backed a ban on plastic cutlery and plates, cotton buds, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}