Pollution – EU Parliament votes for ban on disposable plastic, The European Parliament has backed a ban on disposable products made of plastic. According to the Plan, drinking straws or plastic Cutlery to disappear by 2021 from the market. © Photo: Darren Staples/Reuters

The European Parliament has voted to ban the use of drinking straws, disposable dishes, swabs, and other disposable products made of plastic. It approved a corresponding proposal of the EU Commission, which aims to banish a number of single-use products for which there are already Alternatives, in 2021, the whole of the EU. The new regulation, the Parliament and the EU-States – must now negotiate a compromise. The scheme is to reduce the pollution of the oceans by plastic.

The regulation also stipulates that plastic bottles are collected separately and to be recycled if there are disposable bottles, by 2025, 90 percent to be. In addition, the use of other disposable products such as plastic cups should be reduced by 2025, a quarter – for example, through price increases, or the advertising for Alternatives.

Globally each year about eight million tons of plastic in the oceans. This corresponds to about a garbage truck loads per Minute. About 150 million tons of drive in the world’s oceans, the amount could double by 2030. It is estimated that every year 100,000 sea animals such as whales or dolphins and, possibly, a Million seabirds as a result of plastic in the sea to die.

plastic in the sea – Only we are poisoning the ocean, then us, millions of tons of plastic land every year in the sea and harm animals and nature. As micro-particles, we breathe in him, too. An explainer video © photo: youtube.com/cheeseandjamsandwich

A survey by the consumer monitor of the German Federal Institute for risk assessment (BfR) also shows that. More than half of the possible health effects of micro plastic. How exactly do the micro-plastic has an effect on the health of people, is so far unclear. The Federal office for risk assessment and the Federal environment Agency stress on a regular basis that a health risk is unlikely.

In some countries of the world, for example, in Rwanda and Kenya, have banned plastic bags already under punishment. Since 2018, the European Union prohibits the free distribution of certain plastic bags. Many large retail corporations have banned certain plastic packaging out of your range and try to reduce waste or recycle more.

Everything on the topic of plastic you read on our topics page and in our recently published waste-to-focus “living in a disposable mode”.