The European "Plastic Ban" is here: July 3, the new "ban on single-use plastic products" will be officially implemented! Many industries may be greatly affected!

Article excerpted from the Italian edition of European Times, June 6

The "Anti-single-use plastics" regulation adopted by the European Council on May 21, 2019 will be officially implemented from July 3 this year. The purpose of the regulation is to reduce the use of plastic products, such as disposable cutlery, dishes, and dishes. and so on, in order to reduce environmental pollution.

The Italian "Corriere della Sera" reported that this move can improve environmental pollution problems, but it will have a significant impact on the plastics-related industry. Recently, the Italian Federation of Industrialists (Confindustria) publicly stated that about 50,000 workers in the Italian plastics production industry will be in crisis. At the same time, the Italian government has also protested to the EU, because the plastic products that cannot be used in the new regulations include plastic outer packaging for packaging disposable tableware, and if such packaging is also restricted, there will be more industries in Italy. Suffering losses, the social costs that will be aggravated by this are also immeasurable, and the country is not fully prepared for this move.

Editor's note: With the advancement of the global plastic ban, the promotion of pulp molding products is imperative. EU countries should adopt fully automatic pulp molding equipment production lines and build pulp molding products production plants as soon as possible. About 50,000 workers in the Italian plastics production industry in crisis could regain their jobs in the pulp moulding industry.

• Which plastic products will be banned or phased out?

- Starting from July 3, plastic products that have other substitutes have been banned, including: cutlery, dinner plates, straws, cotton swabs, polystyrene containers and drinking glasses, balloons and balloon sticks, plastic bags, etc. This change will not only affect many industrial sectors, but also food packaging, catering, service, entertainment and other industries;

Editor's note: Pulp moulded tableware products that have been industrially produced such as: cutlery, pulp moulded dinner plate, lunch box, pulp moulded instant noodle bowl, pulp moulded plate, pulp moulded cup, pulp moulded plate, pulp moulded Fresh dishes, etc., are ideal substitutes for these plastic wraps.

- Plastic products that do not need to be discontinued immediately, but will be phased out include: products that do not yet have non-plastic substitutes, such as tea cups, drinking cups, food containers, plastic-coated paper cups, etc.;

- Commodities that are required by the new regulations to implement special technologies and labels to improve people's awareness of environmental protection and waste sorting will not be eliminated from the market for the time being.

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

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

• What will happen after the new regulations are implemented?

After the official implementation of the new regulations, member states must take necessary measures to ban related single-use plastic products and reduce the consumption of plastic products that currently have no substitutes on the market but should be phased out. After that, the EU will use the 2026 data to compare the 2022 data in 2027.

Under the initiative of the European Commission, member states are now negotiating a calculation standard to achieve the goal of reducing plastic products, which will be based on the weight of plastic, 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 plastic weight will be calculated, and the paper weight will be deducted.

The impact of this regulation will be reviewed in 2027, when the changes brought about by the "plastic ban" will become clearer. And by then, degradable plastic products that can still be used, paper products coated with plasticized film, etc. will also be considered out of the market.

Editor's note: Banning plastics is a major trend. Even if it is not implemented today, it must be implemented tomorrow. Finding environmentally friendly and degradable packaging alternatives is a top priority. Pulp moulded products are an ideal alternative to plastic packaging. The EU is not very large in the pulp molded food packaging industry. Both China and Thailand are production bases for pulp-molded food packaging products. At the beginning of the ban on plastics, pulp molded food packaging products could be purchased from China and Thailand. Thailand EPAC pulp molded products manufacturing plant can supply molded fiber food packaging in large quantities.