FILIPINO exporters and manufacturers are encouraged to become familiar with a draft law published by the European Commission on May 28, targeting single-use plastics (SUPs), which is expected to affect PH exports if it is passed.
The future law intends to ban a number of frequently used products such as plastic straws, cutlery, and plates from the European Union (EU) market, and impose other obligations on plastic goods producers.
Philippine suppliers will be affected by the draft law-”Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Reduction of the Impact of Certain Plastic Products”-in the same way as those from within the EU and elsewhere.
Earlier, the commission said the new EU-wide rules propose to target the 10 single-use plastic products most often found on Europe’s beaches and seas, as well as lost and abandoned fishing gear, as a way to deal with the growing amount of harmful plastic litter in oceans and seas.
These 10 SUP products are food containers; cups for beverages; cotton bud sticks; cutlery, plates, stirrers, straws; sticks for balloons and balloons; packets and wrappers; beverage containers, their caps, and lids (beverage bottles); tobacco product filters; sanitary items (wet wipes, sanitary towels); lightweight plastic carrier bags.
A single-use plastic product is defined as “a product that is made wholly or partly from plastic and that is not conceived, designed or placed on the market to accomplish, within its life span, multiple trips or rotations by being returned to the producer for refill or reused for the same purpose for which it was conceived.”
As part of the requirements and restrictions under the new rules, there will be a plastic ban on plastic cotton buds, cutlery, plates, straws, drink stirrers, and sticks for balloons, which will all have to be made exclusively from more sustainable materials instead. Single-use drinks containers made with plastic will only be allowed on the market if their caps and lids remain attached.
The commission’s proposals will now go to the European Parliament and Council for adoption. The commission regards the draft as a priority file, and expects to see tangible results “before the elections in May 2019.
Any party, including Filipino stakeholders, wishing to take part in the stakeholder process can provide feedback on the proposed directive until July 24. (Philexport News and Features)