On 21 May 2019, the European Council formally adopted a directive that will ban certain single-use plastic (SUP) items. The adoption of the new rules is the final step in the procedure.

Many players inside and outside of the plastics industry note the speed with which the SUP directive has passed through each stage of the legislative process. The European Commission published its proposal for an SUP directive in May 2018 (see Plasteurope.com of 29.05.2018). The EU council then reached its position on 31 October 2018, with the European Parliament greenlighting the EU commission's draft directive – see Plasteurope.com of 01.11.2018. Negotiations with the parliament started on 6 November 2018, and the EU council, parliament and commission signed off on a provisional agreement in December 2018 – see Plasteurope.com of 03.01.2019. This was then confirmed by EU ambassadors of the member states on 18 January 2019, and European Parliament voted in March 2019 to ban single-use plastics by 2021 – see Plasteurope.com of 28.03.2019.

The EU had already hoped to conclude the legislative process in the spring of 2019 and for member states to incorporate the measures into national laws by 2021. The SUPs to be banned by this date include items for which alternatives exist on the market – disposable cutlery and plates, straws, cotton bud sticks, balloon sticks and EPS containers for food and drinks as well as fishing gear and oxo-degradable plastics.