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Good news: bans (finally) in sight
27 July 2023
The approach to ‘single-use plastic products’ will be expanded. The government is going to investigate the most appropriate measures to prevent plastic from ending up on the streets ‘by product group’. Finally, a ban on products like squeeze bags or single-use cigarette filters is no longer a taboo.
Plastic Soup Foundation has been calling on the government to ban certain products for years. State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (CDA) of Infrastructure and Water Management offers that perspective in a letter to the House of representatives.
FROM PURELY IMPLEMENTATION TO EXPANSION OF APPROACH
In the fight against plastic litter, the Netherlands traditionally pursued a conservative policy. For a long time, the only legal measure was a ban on the free provision of plastic bags. That measure came about because of European pressure. When Europe subsequently came up with the so-called Single Use Plastic directive, our country decided to ‘purely implement’ it; only the bare minimum of measures. Meanwhile, the Netherlands was banking on voluntarism. Organisations that had signed the Plastic Pact promised to reduce plastic use. But without sanctions, participants are not running as fast.
The Parliament letter can be considered a fundamental policy change. And that is particularly good news in the fight against plastic soup. Finally, bans are also on the horizon.
APPROACH IN CLUSTERS
The parliamentary letter contains a proposal to expand the approach to disposable plastic with additional measures based on 21 product groups. These fall into three clusters:
- Product groups under further investigation. These include fireworks containing plastic, clothes hangers for transport, pouches/sachets and vapes/e-cigarettes.
- Product groups that can be subsumed under existing regulations. These include over-packaging, plastic packaging around fresh fruit and vegetables in supermarkets and shops, plastic rings for six-packs of beverage containers and shrink wrap, packaging of personal care products, plastic film around cigarettes and cigar boxes and postal items with plastic seal, plastic tank gloves, plastic lollipop sticks, plastic artificial snow, plastic confetti, menstrual products, wet wipes containing plastic and baby nappies and incontinence materials.
- Other product groups. No action is taken on these for the time being. These include bread bags, primary plastic packaging of individually packaged items, home packaging and single-use toys.
REVIEW OF THE SUP DIRECTIVE
In 2026, the European Single Use Plastics Directive will be reviewed. Additional measures can then be taken. This is an important moment for the second cluster because it offers the possibility of additional product groups being covered by the directive. The Netherlands now promises to push hard for plastic tank gloves, plastic lollipop sticks, plastic artificial snow, plastic confetti to also be covered by SUP provisions, in addition to a ban on single-use cigarette filters.
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