The European Commission has dismissed requests from the plastic industry to lift the ban on the single-use plastic (SUP) products across the EU due to health and hygiene issues during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to Euractiv.
Plastic industry leaders have asked the EU to postpone the implementation of the SUP directive for at least one more year.
“The Commission’s position continues to be that deadlines in EU law have to be respected,” Vivian Loonela, the EU Commission spokesperson for environmental matters, was quoted as saying.
“Member states still have one year to transpose the SUP Directive in national law,” Loonela replied when asked to comment about industry calls to postpone the implementation of the single-use plastic directive “for at least an additional year”,she said.
The SUP directive was adopted in June last year. The list of prohibited plastic products includes: disposable cutlery, plates, straws, cotton ear picks, oxo-degradable food containers and polystyrene cups.
The purpose of the directive is to reduce the amount of plastic waste in the seas, which, according to the European Commission, accounts for 80 percent of all garbage.
However, the crisis caused by Covid-19 forced some people to reconsider their views on plastic, which is used to create disposable gloves, masks, medical devices, food packaging and other hygiene products.
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