On 12 June 2019, DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, and this Directive will come into effect on 3 July 2021.

The scope of the Directive is limited to products which fall within the definition of “single-use plastic products”. This definition covers products 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 a producer for refill or re-used for the same purpose for which it was conceived. In the Annex to the Directive, the products are sorted into different parts (from A to G), depending on the measures they are subject to. Each measure also falls under a different legal provision in the main body of the Directive. The type and scope of the different measures can thus be summarised as follows:

Part A – consumption reduction measures (Article 4): Applies to single-use food containers and cups for beverages. Member States must impose consumption reduction measures which achieve a measurable quantitative reduction in the consumption of these products. These measures must be “ambitious and sustained” but the type of measures is at the discretion of the Member States. The reduction is to be achieved by 2026 compared to 2022 levels.

Part B – prohibition of sales (Article 5): Applies to cutlery, plates, beverage stirrers, straws, balloon sticks and cotton bud sticks. The prohibition takes effect two years after the Directive enters into force, i.e. by 2021. The prohibition also applies to cups, food and beverage containers made from expanded polystyrene. In addition, Article 5 bans sales of products made from oxo-degradable plastics.

Part C – product requirements (Article 6): Beverage containers with a capacity of up to three litres must be designed to ensure that caps remain attached to the container during and after use by 2024. Furthermore, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles must contain at least 25% recycled plastic by 2025 and all single-use plastic bottles must contain at least 30% recycled plastic by 2030.

Part D – marking requirements (Article 7): Cups, certain sanitary products, wet wipes and tobacco products must be clearly labelled with the amount of plastic they contain as well as waste disposal instructions by 2021.

Part E – extended producer responsibility (EPR) (Article 8): Food containers, beverage containers with a capacity of up to three litres, cups, packets and wrappers, tobacco products, balloons, wet wipes, and plastic bags will be covered. EPR requires producers to take responsibility for the waste management of these products by 2024.

Part F – separate collection (Article 9): 77% of all bottles with a capacity of up to three litres sold in the same year must be collected by 2025, and 90% by 2029.

Part G – awareness raising (Article 10): EPR will also include costs of measures that Member States will have to take to inform the public of the availability of reusable alternatives, re-use systems, and waste management options, as well as information on the impact of littering.

The European Commission is mandated to publish guidelines, including examples of what is to be considered a single-use plastic product for the purposes of the Directive, by 3 July 2020.

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