“The Commission’s position continues to be that deadlines in EU law have to be respected,” said Vivian Loonela, the EU Commission spokesperson for environmental matters. “Member states still have one year to transpose the SUP Directive in national law,” Loonela replied when asked to comment about industry calls to postpone the implementation of the single-use plastic directive “for at least an additional year”.
The objective was to reduce marine litter, 80% of which is land-based, the European Commission said at the time, pointing out that 4.6-12.7 million tonnes of plastic waste find their way into the world’s oceans each year. But the coronavirus pandemic has thrown Europe into “a completely different world where hygiene and consumer health will be the number one priority,” argued the European Plastics Converters (EuPC), a trade association. “The freedom of circulation of these goods is necessary to keep hygiene, health and safety in the supply of many products, such as food contact materials, protective equipment, medical devices and medicines,” EuPC said in a letter addressed to the European Commission last week.
Separately, the Commission also issued guidelines to EU member states in order to ensure safe handling of the growing amount of medical waste generated during the pandemic.
Source: Edie
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