EU: Reducing use of plastic bags: MEPs strike deal

EU countries would have to reduce the use of the commonest and most polluting plastic carrier bags, under draft rules informally agreed between MEPs and the Italian Presidency of the Council and confirmed by the member states’ permanent representatives. Member states would either have to take measures to ensure that average yearly consumption of these bags does not exceed 90 lightweight bags per citizen by 2019 and 40 by 2025 or ensure that, by 2018, they are not handed to shoppers free of charge. The European Commission would have to evaluate the impact on the environment of oxo-degradable plastic materials and propose measures accordingly (News Item European Parliament, 21 November 2014).
Click here for the news item.
Click here for the proposal (34 kB).
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