The EU is at the forefront of the world in the treatment of plastic pollution. Up to now, in all EU countries, 23 countries have legislated or taken actions under the Directive on Single Use Plastics (SUP, Single Use Plastics).However, four countries including Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, and Poland have postponed the implementation of the directive.
1. France
France passed the French Circular Economy Law, which prohibits items included in the SUP (Single Use Plastics) directive, as well as plastic scraps, cup lids, fruit and vegetable packaging (with some exceptions).According to the bill, in 2022 and 2023, all foods used for daily home delivery and on-site consumption in hotels, restaurants and cafes must be reusable.
2. Italy
Since 2013, Italy has banned the use of plastic bags (except for biodegradable and biodegradable plastic bags), and since 2019, it has banned the use of cotton swabs made of plastic.
Last year, Italy announced plans to introduce a plastic tax in January 2021, which has been included in the Italian annual budget law.
From January 1, 2021, Italy will implement the so-called "plastic tax"-a tax of 0.45 euros/kg on single-use plastic packaging.
3. Germany
In November 2020, the Federal Senate approved a decree banning the use of some single-use plastics, including EPS containers, from July 3, 2021.
In addition, at the beginning of February 2021, the German Cabinet confirmed the update of the Packaging Act-requiring restaurants to provide reusable containers for takeaway products from 2023.
4. Austria
The Austrian National Council passed a law on July 2, 2020, banning the sale of plastic bags from 2021.
Austria is also currently amending a solid waste management law, which includes provisions aimed at changing the SUP directive. The focus of the discussion was to establish a deposit refund system (DRS) for disposable plastic bottles.
5. Belgium
On December 20, 2020, Belgium announced the treatment of EU plastic tariffs. Plastic tariffs will begin to levy non-recyclable plastic packaging waste from January 2021.
There are few details on the conversion of the EU SUP Directive, but the federal government is expected to proceed as planned before the July 2021 deadline.
6. Luxembourg
Luxembourg will implement the directive in July 2021, which is even stricter than the original text set by the European Union, banning the use of all single-use plastics during festivals.
Starting in 2022, the use of disposable plastic containers to sell fruits and vegetables will be banned, restaurants will use reusable cups, tableware, etc., and refreshments must be consumed on site.Beginning in 2023, disposable plastic bags cannot be distributed for free, and restaurants that provide take-out must implement a reusable food container strategy in 2024.
7. Finland
The deadline is July 5, 2020, and Finland has failed to incorporate the requirements of the revised Waste and Packaging Directive into Finnish legislation. The proposal to amend the Waste Law is expected to be submitted to Parliament this spring. The new requirements of the directive may be incorporated into Finnish legislation in the summer of 2021.
The legislative amendments required by the SUP (Single-Use Plastics) Directive are also being prepared in 2020. The SUP directive extends the responsibility of producers to prevent and clean up garbage.
8. Sweden
On January 29, 2020, the Swedish Parliament voted to pass a bill on plastic bags. Under the new regulations, most plastic bags will be taxed 3 SEK (about 0.31 U.S. dollars) each, while smaller and thinner plastic bags will be taxed 0.30 SEK (about 0.03 U.S. dollars) each. Small plastic bags are those with a wall thickness of less than 15 microns and a volume of less than 7 liters.
The new regulations take effect on March 1, 2020, but the actual implementation of the tax is scheduled for April 1, 2020. This tax does not apply to "sustainable use" plastic bags.
As for other disposable plastics, such as food packaging, and how the Swedish government will solve this problem, there is no further information.
9. Denmark
The Danish government has initiated the transposition procedure of the SUP directive and is following up in time. Denmark has been implementing the Deposit Refund System (DRS) for plastic bottles, glass bottles, canned water, soft drinks and beer for decades. By January 1, 2020, the program will be expanded to include juice and other beverage containers.
10. Netherlands
The draft legislation is proposed to convert the SUP directive, including the goal of reaching 90% of plastic bottles to be recycled by 2022. However, the current draft legislation does not set targets for reducing consumption of disposable plastic cups and containers, nor does it propose measures to increase reuse solutions.
The Netherlands recently expanded its DRS range of disposable plastic bottles to smaller plastic bottles.
11. Portugal
In April last year, the Portuguese government passed a bill prohibiting the use of single-use plastic packaging for fruits, vegetables and bread.
Even before the EU pledged to ban the use of single-use plastics in 2021, Portugal had already enacted legislation to prohibit government agencies from using plastic bags, plates or plastic bottles.
In the use of single-use plastics, Portugal is considered a leader among European countries.
12. Spain
The new draft law on waste foresees the conversion of the SUP directive and will be issued in June 2020.
In addition to prohibiting the sale of single-use plastics, the government also hopes to gradually reduce the supply of such products. By 2026, the use of take-out food, tableware or beverage cups will be halved compared to 2022. By 2030, usage will be reduced by 70%.
Some parts of Spain (Balearic Islands and Navarre) have taken comprehensive measures against single-use plastics, including further bans.
13. Ireland
As part of the Northern Ireland Protocol, Northern Ireland must incorporate part of the directive into its national laws before January 1, 2022. This is to ease the flow of goods with the Republic of Ireland.
Irish Minister of Climate Action and Environment Eamon Ryan released details of Ireland’s national solid waste policy for 2020-2025 in late September 2020.
The plan’s goals include halving food waste by 2030, introducing a storage and recycling program for plastic bottles and aluminum cans, imposing a tax on disposable cups, and banning the use of certain single-use plastics from July 2021.
14. Estonia
The impact assessment commissioned by the Estonian government will be finalized (and made public) in the next few weeks, which will provide more insight into future developments. The government is expected to begin drafting measures later. Since 2005, Estonia has implemented DRS for disposable plastic bottles.
15. Lithuania
The government has proposed a draft legislation that replaces the SUP directive, but the statute proposed by this country is not stricter than the EU's SUP directive.
The draft law was shelved in the process of being passed by parliament. Lithuania established DRS for disposable plastic bottles in 2016.
16. Latvia
In May 2020, Latvia communicated the framework of the National Environmental Policy Plan, which is the "Environmental Protection" law of the Republic of Latvia. Although it addresses the issues of waste and sustainability, it did not provide further details on the SUP directive.
17. Greece
Greece has announced some promising developments, such as setting a goal to reduce disposable plastic cups and plastic bottles, and implementing measures in the public sector from January 2021. Therefore, from February 2021, the use of single-use plastics has been eliminated from national institutions.
The Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy stated that this public management ban "is an important first step in Greece to stop the use of single-use plastics (such as food containers), and it is expected to be fully implemented on July 3, 2021."
18. Czech Republic
The Czech government first announced the passage of a bill on January 25, 2021, which aims to drastically reduce the use of plastic items (such as disposable food containers).
The law was proposed by the Czech Environment Minister Richard Brabec and discussed by members of the House of Commons. It will take effect in July 2021.
The new measures approved by the Czech government will mainly ban disposable plastic products such as straws, plates, tableware and polystyrene cups, and impose new tariffs on plastic manufacturers.
19. Croatia
Croatia’s waste law will be passed on July 3 this year, when Croatia should ban disposable plastic products such as cotton swabs, cutlery, plates, straws, blenders and food containers.
20. Malta
As pollution prevention measures take effect, starting in 2021, Malta will stop importing single-use plastics.
The Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Planning, Aaron Farrugia (Aaron Farrugia) announced that on December 30, 2020, the public consultation and legal announcement have been completed.
The ban will apply to products such as plastic bags, cutlery, straws, plates, cotton swabs, food containers and blenders.
21. Hungary
It was foreseen that the draft law of the SUP ban was released only a few days after the Hungarian government revoked it.
Later, Parliament passed a second draft of a legislative proposal that changed the ban on certain single-use plastic products-although some comments were not as ambitious as the first. From July 2021, DRS testing can be conducted on disposable plastics, glass bottles and jars.
22. Romania
The representative of the Ministry of Environment revealed at the end of March 2021 that Romania will design a set of legislative measures to meet the requirements of the SUP Directive as part of the national restoration and restoration plan, in which the ban on single-use plastics is included. Officials and NGO representatives have always believed that some minor specifications have been established, such as determining and defining the scope of products, uniformly marking certain single-use plastics, calculating and verifying individual recycling targets, reporting formats, calculations and verification methods and many more.
23. Bulgaria
In January 2021, experts from the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water Resources commented that starting from this summer, Bulgaria will ban the use of eight single-use plastic products.
The ban will apply to products made entirely or partly of plastic, which are usually single-use products, or products that are only used for a short period of time before being discarded.
These are plastic tableware-forks, knives, spoons, plates, straws, as well as earplugs, beverage stirrers, plastic sticks with balloons, food storage containers made of expanded polystyrene, cups and products made of oxidatively degradable plastics.
24.Countries that still have no legislation
Although there have been some discussions on the EU's ban on certain single-use plastics and DRS, the following governments have largely delayed the adoption of the measures.
1. Slovakia
2. Slovenia
3. Cyprus
4. Poland
