One week after the European Parliament nodded off the European Commission’s proposal to curb the use of lightweight barrier bags among its member states – see Plasteurope.com of 13.03.2014 – the plastics industry is responding. In a press release dated 20 March, European Plastics Converters (EuPC, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsconverters.eu) said that while it supports “the basic principles” of the proposal to reduce consumption of lightweight carrier bags, it does not support the wording of the report, especially its provisions on biodegradable and compostable materials.

EuPC is particularly unhappy about the statement that bags made of biodegradable or compostable materials are less harmful to the environment, saying “this statement is absolutely untrue and is not supported by any credible scientific evidence.” The European plastics processing umbrella organisation pointed out that biodegradable bags do not degrade in the marine environment, take a long time to degrade – if at all – outside the marine environment, and in most cases consist of at least 50% oil-based plastics.

EuPC also criticised the fact that the report puts existing plastics recycling streams at risk by favouring biodegradable bags of traditional materials, saying that such an amendment would put at risk 20 years of separate plastics collection in countries like Germany and Austria. The association pointed to research it commissioned that shows that even just 2% of contamination by degradable materials in the recycling stream can have a detrimental impact on the mechanical and visual properties of the resulting recyclate – for more details, see Plasteurope.com of 21.11.2013.

In concluding, EuPC called on all European parliamentarians to oppose the reports “nonsensical provisions…and not to push biodegradable materials as an environmental solution to the problem of littering and marine litter.”