The European plastic ban

The European plastic ban " comes: On July 3, the "ban on disposable plastic products" new regulations were formally implemented! Many industries may be greatly affected!

（The article was taken from the European Times Italian version on June 6，The Chinese version of the translation）

The Anti-Disposable Plastic Use Regulation, adopted on 21 May 2019 by the European Council, will begin from 3 July this year to reduce the use of plastic goods, such as disposable knives, forks and dishes, to reduce environmental pollution.

The Italian Evening Post reported that the move could improve environmental pollution, but would have a significant impact on the plastics-related industry. Recently, the Italian Federation of Industrialists (Confindustria) has publicly said that about 50,000 workers will fall into crisis. At the same time, the Italian government also protested to the European Union, because in the new rules of plastic products including plastic packaging, and if such packaging is restricted, then Italy will have more industry suffer losses, thus the increased social cost is immeasurable, and the country has not been fully prepared for this.

Editor's note: The promotion of the global plastic ban cause, the implementation of molded pulp products is imperative. EU countries should adopt fully automatic pulp molding equipment production lines to build pulp molding products production plants as soon as possible. About 50,000 workers in the Italian plastic plastic industry in crisis can regain jobs in the pulp molding industry.

• Which plastic products will be disabled or phased out?

-From July 3, plastic products with other substitutes, including knives and forks, dining plates, straws, cotton swabs, polystyrene containers and water cups, balloons and balloons, plastic bags, etc. This change will not only affect many industrial departments, but also affect the food packaging industry, catering industry, service industry, entertainment industry and many other industries;

Editor's note: Industrially produced molded fiber tableware products such as: molded fiber knife and fork,molded fiber food packaging， molded fiber food plate, molded fiber (pulp) tray/ plate, molded pulp meal box, molded pulp instant noodles bowl, molded pulp cup, molded pulp clean dish fresh plate, etc., are the ideal substitute for these plastic packaging.

-Plastic products that need not be stopped immediately, but will be phased out include: no non-plastic substitutes, such as tea cups, water cups, food containers, plastic coated paper cups, etc.;

-Commodities that are required by new regulations to implement special technologies, labels to raise awareness of environmental protection and garbage classification will not be eliminated from the market.

Italian media also pointed out that the regulation will even affect sanitary napkins (pads), tampons, wet wipes and other daily necessities. In addition, cigarette filters, fishing gear, etc., will also be changed.

All in all, the new rules set stricter regulations on the 10 types of plastic goods and packaging types that pollute European beaches in the expectation of saving the marine environment by changing our living habits.

• What happens after the new rules are implemented?

After the new rules officially begin, member States must take necessary measures to disable relevant disposable plastic products and reduce the consumption of plastic products that have not been replaced on the market but should be phased out. Thereafter, the EU will conduct a comparative analysis of the 2026 data and the 2022 data in 2027.

Under the initiative of the Commission, Member States are now negotiating calculations for achieving the goal of reducing plastic products, which will be based on plastic weight, which will be more in line with calculating the actual impact of mixed material products on the environment. For example, to calculate a plastic-coated paper coffee cup, only the weight of the plastic is calculated and the weight of the paper is deducted.

The impact of the regulation will be reviewed in 2027, when the changes to the plastic ban will become clearer. And by that time, biodegradable plastic products still available, and paper plastic products coated with plastic film will also be considered out of the market.

Editor's note:Plastic ban is a general trend, even if it is not implemented today, but it must be implemented tomorrow. Looking for environmentally degradable packaging alternatives is imperative. Molded fiber products are an ideal alternative to plastic packaging. The EU in the pulp molded food packaging industry is not very large. Both China and Thailand are the production bases for pulp-molded food packaging products. At the beginning of the ban, molded fiber food packaging products can be purchased from China and Thailand. Thailand EPAC pulp molding products factory is a large supply of molded fiber food packaging.