San Francisco has banned of the sale of food service ware: that contains fluorinated chemicals, is made from polystyrene foam, and that is not either compostable or recyclable. The polystyrene foam ban takes effect on January 1, 2019, while the other bans become effective on January 1, 2020.
Germany’s new packaging law, which becomes effective on January 1, 2019, is intended to both improve recycling and prevent packaging waste. Improved recycling rates of packaging will be accomplished through significant increases in recycling targets. For example, the recycling rate for plastic packaging will increase from the current 36% to 63% by 2022. The recycling quotas for metal, glass, and paper packaging materials will be increased to 90% by 2022.
The Association of Plastics Recyclers and Plastics Recycling Europe jointly developed a global definition for the term “recyclable” as it relates to plastic packaging and products. The proposed definition aims to move beyond technical recyclability and establish criteria to uniformly ensure that a material identified as recyclable can actually be recycled in practice.
The groups specified four conditions that a product must meet to be considered recyclable. These are:
A ban on the use of expanded polystyrene (EPS) single-use food and beverage containers in New York City, required under Local Law 142, will become effective on January 1, 2019. The effective date was announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio on June 13, following the dismissal of a lawsuit that blocked implementation of the ban.
The European Commission (EC) released a proposed directive on single-use plastics on May 28, 2018, as part of its transition to a more circular economy for plastics.
The European Commission (EC) is preparing a legislative proposal for a Directive on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment. This follows other waste management measures taken in the European Union. These include a 50% recycling target for plastic packaging waste by 2025 and 55% by 2030, and the goal to ensure that all plastic packaging is either reusable or recyclable by 2030. (See the PackagingLaw.com article, Europe Adopts Strategy for Plastics, for more information.)
The European Union (EU) has adopted a strategy on plastics that is part of its transition towards a more circular economy. The strategy calls for all plastic packaging on the EU market to be either reusable or recyclable in a cost-effective manner by 2030. It also aims to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics and restrict the intentional use of microplastics.
Over 150 organizations and individuals, including food and beverage companies, chemical companies, industry associations, and members of the European Parliament, released a statement earlier this month calling for a ban on oxo-degradable plastic packaging until further research and testing can be done. The term oxo-degradable plastics, in general, refers to conventional plastic that contains chemical additives intended to accelerate the degradation of the material under the action of UV light and/or heat, and oxygen.
California Assembly Bill 906, signed into law on October 15, 2017, defines “polyethylene terephthalate” (PET) for purposes of resin code labeling as a plastic that meets certain conditions, including limits with respect to the chemical composition of the polymer and a melting peak temperature within a specified range. The ostensible purpose of the change is to exclude rigid plastic bottles and containers made from polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified (PETG) that are sold in California from using Resin Identification Code (RIC) 1.