[EU] From 2021, the production and sale of disposable plastic products such as tableware, cotton swabs and straws will be banned. These products will be replaced by paper, straw or reusable hard plastic.Bottles will be collected separately under existing recycling models and member countries will be required to recover 90 per cent of disposable plastic bottles by 2025.
Meps have also revised plans for cigarette filters, a plastic contaminant common on beaches.Cigarette makers must reduce plastic by 50 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2030.
[The Netherlands] The use of multiple single-use plastic products will be banned from 3 July 2021, aiming to reduce pollution from Marine plastic waste.Banned products include plastic plates, cutlery, mixers and straws.
As part of this, the Netherlands will also introduce more long-term measures.From 2024, for example, bottle caps and LIDS must be attached to plastic bottles and packaging to improve recycling;From 2025, plastic bottles must contain at least 25% recycled plastic.
[Germany] As of July 3, 2021, the sale of disposable plastic products including tableware, plates, stirring rods, balloon holders, and polystyrene cups and boxes will be banned.
[France] On January 1, 2020, France banned the sale of certain disposable plastic products, including disposable cotton swabs, disposable cups and plates, and banned the use of plastic bottles for purified water in school canteens.
In addition, France plans to ban the sale of plastic cups for drinking water, plastic drinking pipes and stirring sticks, styrofoam meal boxes, etc. by 2021. Plastic packaging of fruits and vegetables will also be banned.In 2022, restaurants, including fast-food chains, will be banned from offering disposable cutlery to in-room customers.The ultimate goal is to reduce the use of single-use plastic to zero by 2040.
[Greece] Proposed draft ban on single-use plastic products, including takeaway coffee cups and cotton swabs, ahead of the 2021 DEADLINE for the EU's single-use plastic directive.