EU To Ban Plastic Plates, Cups, and Cutlery by 2021; Will Require Plastic Bottles Be Made of 25% Recycled Content By 2025 (fastcompany.com)

The European Union has decided to ban plastic consumer items including plates, cutlery and straws as of 2021 to help clean up oceans. The prohibition on single-use plastics approved by the European Parliament this week in Strasbourg, France, also applies to beverage cups, food containers and cotton bud sticks. A report adds: The new legislation also states that by 2025, plastic bottles should be made of 25 percent recycled content. The new legislation also sets an admirable target of recycling 90 percent of plastic bottles by 2029 -- as well as a goal of making them out of 30 percent recycled material by 2030. Parliament originally rolled out its plan at the end of 2018 and have now made good on the ambition directive.

Comments

Hypocrisy - and the trees die again.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm old enough to remember that this move to plastic was driven by "good intentions" back in the 70s because all the products were destroying the trees because of the demand on paper, pulp and wood products. Plastic after all was RECYCLABLE... except nobody bothered and now that China won't do the recycling the governments don't care to spend the money on infrastructure when they can use it to pay off their political cronies at inflated rates.
This emotionalist and irrational (yes, irrational) response to a problem could easily be handled by better pollution monitoring, regulation and better recycling. But that would require a government that actually did its job and not just run to ban things because it makes them feel better to assuage a 12 year old's shoddy science fair paper.

Re:Hypocrisy - and the trees die again.

[Ichijo]

We didn't realize back then that plastics were slowly making their way into our food supply. Do you think that "better pollution monitoring, regulation and better recycling" is enough to fix that without also banning single-use plastics?

Re:There are better ways, people learn over time

[Dunbal]

As someone who owns a managed forest, I must point out that a) wood is a renewable resource and b) growing saplings fix a lot more CO2 from the atmosphere than mature trees do. So please, all the stuff you want to make out of wood and paper products - please do!