Paper Technology International 2020 - Journal - Page 107

PAPERTECHNOLOGYINTERNATIONAL
EU Single-Use Plastic Directive: Any impact on paper manufacturing
and converting?
Dr. Antje Harling, Division Manager Materials Testing & Analytics,
Papiertechnische Stiftung (PTS), Heidenau, Germany
INTRODUCTION:
Although the title of the Directive suggests regulations for plastic, the impact on the design of fibre-based products like paper and
board could be significant.
Pictures of plastic items on beaches and floating patches of plastic garbage in the oceans have raised public awareness. Moreover,
consumers and legislators are concerned about the decomposition of plastic items into secondary microplastics and their impact on the
environment, food chain and the still uncertain impact on human health. Based on the “Green Deal”, the European Commission now set up
a regulatory framework to lead the European economy into a sustainable future by transforming it into a circular economy.
One step towards this goal is the Directive (EU) 2019/904
(Single-Use Plastics Directive) [1] on the reduction of the impact of
certain plastic products on the environment.
The defined objectives of the Directive are exactly “to
prevent and reduce the impact of certain plastic products on the
environment, in particular the aquatic environment, and on human
health, as well as to promote the transition to a circular economy
with innovative and sustainable business models, products and
materials, thus also contributing to the efficient functioning of the
internal market” (Article 1) [1].
Within EU law, Directives must be transposed into national
law by EU countries. The European Commission verifies that EU
countries communicate all national implementing measures and
that they fully and correctly incorporate the provisions of a Directive
into national law. This needs to be done by the deadline set in the
Directive. For the single use plastic Directive, the states should have
brought into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions
necessary to comply with the restrictions on placing on the market
and marking requirements of the Directive by July 3rd, 2021.
That means after the transposition into national law many single-use
plastic products are banned within the EU from said date. As of the
3rd July 2021 a number of other products shall be labelled with a
specific warning about plastic-induced environmental hazards. This
is further specified by the Commission Implementing Regulation
(EU) 2020/2151 [2] which lays down rules on harmonised marking.
There have been numerous controversial debates as well as many
different suggestions for definitions, until the final version of the
Commission guidelines on single-use plastic products (2021/C
216/01) [3] regarding the interpretation of the provisions set forth
in the Directive was finally agreed upon and published in June
2021. In Germany in 2020 and 2021 some of the regulations were
transposed by the Single-Use Plastics Ordinance – EWKVerbotsV
[4] and Single-Use plastic marking ordinance – EWKKennzV [5]
(refer to Fig. 1).
During the Impact Assessment accompanying the European
Commission’s proposal for this Directive paper-based products
without plastic lining or coating have been identified as available,
more sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic products.
Figure 1: Directive (EU) 2019/904 “Single Use Plastics“ – Hierarchy of legal acts.
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