Waste

Europe will continue to swim in plastic pollution from a huge range of household products unless ‘troubling loopholes’ in the European Chemicals Agency’s proposed ban are closed up, lawyers and conservation lobby groups have warned.

The EU is lagging well behind its 2025 target to return 10 million tonnes of plastic to its product stream each year, according to a new report.

Many EU nations have still not transposed the 2018 circular economy package and there are “stark contrasts” in enforcement and compliance among those that have, says a report from the European Environmental Bureau.

More than 500 shipping containers’ worth of plastic waste ends up in the Mediterranean each day – a rate that could double within 20 years, a new report estimates

Durable and repairable products should become the norm, the European Parliament’s internal market and consumer protection committee has agreed, but campaigners for more sustainable design practices criticised a last-minute weakening of its position.