No more plastic bags polluting our environment | WPN World People News

Life in plastic is not so fantastic after all. Plastic bags have been blamed for polluting the environment, especially aquatic ecosystems. The environment committee votes on a proposal negotiated by the Parliament and the Council to reduce the use of the commonest and most polluting plastic carrier bags. Under the new rules member states could either ban free plastic bags for shoppers by 2018 or else ensure that the average consumption of them does not exceed 90 a year per person by 2019.

Picture taken by Gábor Szellő, one of the winners in our guest photographer contest

The scale of the problem

In 2010 there were 200 bags for everyone who lived in the EU, according to an estimate by the European Parliamentary Research Service.

New legislation

Under the proposal to be voted on by the environment committee, member states could choose to either ban free plastic bags for shoppers by 2018 or else take measures to make sure that the average consumption of these bags drops to 90 a year for each person by 2019 and to 40 by 2025.

The European Commission would be required to evaluate the impact on the environment of oxo-degradable plastic materials, which fragment into small particles, and propose measures accordingly.

Source: European Parliament