A wide range of single-use items made of plastics, poly-coupled materials and bioplastics are banned in the EU as of 3.7.21.
Italy, however-aside from being late in transposing theSingle Use Plastic (SUP) directive-tries to invoke an impermissible exemption.
The ecological transition deserves a different lens, where Italian design and industry can emerge as positive examples. Green horizons.
UAS directive, stop single-use plastic items
The UAS Directive established a ban on a number of single-use plastic items on the market. Cutlery, plates, straws, shovels, balloon sticks, as well as some expanded polystyrene products (glasses and food and beverage containers), cotton swabs for cleaning ears. However, not also-the miracle of industrial lobbies-the ubiquitous yet useless plastic cups (1,2).
The European Commission, in Guideline 31.5.21, reiterated how the ban is extended to single-use items made of poly-bonded materials (plastic + paper) and bioplastics. (3) Materials used in coated cardboard plates and cups, as well as in many liquid (e.g., milk, juice, and wine in cartons) and solid (e.g., milk, juice, and wine in cartons) food packaging. baked goods, fresh and frozen foods, etc.). (4)
Italy lagging behind, bioplastics issue
Member states should have taken the necessary measures to ensure the above prohibitions by 3.7.21. (5) Instead, the Italian legislature merely entrusted this task to the government, with the 2019-2020 European delegation law in effect since 8.5.21. (6) With the aggravation of providing an exemption in favor of bioplastics when ‘reusable alternatives to single-use plastic products intended to come into contact with food listed in Part B of the Annex are not feasible.’
Instead, the only materials allowed by the UAS directive to replace plastics in single-use items-as reiterated by the European Commission in the appropriate guidelines-are natural, unmodified polymers. That is, those whose original chemical structure remains unchanged. Such as cellulose and lignin-both extracted from woody materials-and cornstarch, obtained by wet milling. The tout court extension of the exemption in favor of bioplastics is therefore inadmissible, as it is contrary to the EU directive (which in the hierarchy of sources of law has a superordinate role to constitutional laws).
Late alarm
The elimination of single-use plastic items, including polyacetates and bioplastics, was announced as early as spring 2018. The proposed SUP directive, adopted on 5/28/18, had been approved by a large majority in the Strasbourg Assembly on 10/24/18 (7,8). And the industrial lobbies, brought home the shameful exemption on plastic cups, had to adapt to the new rules.
Economic Development Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, nonetheless, has taken care in recent days to meet with Paolo Gentiloni in Brussels. To ask the former prime minister who approved the UAS directive, now the European commissioner for the economy, to put in a good word in support of the Italian exemption for bioplastics. Understandable but belated initiative. Les jeux sont faits.
Ecological transition and bioplastics
The green transition – to which the European Commission has dedicated ‘trillion-dollar’ funding, with the Green Deal – postulates a transition to sustainable industrial and consumption models. The bioplastics industry has experienced double-digit growth in recent years and undoubtedly deserves to supplant that of plastics from fossil raw materials in various applications (9,10).
However, the vulnus of single-use items is inherent in their very pattern of consumption, which is completely incompatible with the circular economy model. The first rungs of Lansink’s ladder-on which the circular economy is based-are in fact Reduce and Reuse. Precisely for this reason, initiatives are being pursued in several European countries to encourage the purchase of bulk products (in containers intended for reuse) and the use of reusable tableware (11,12).
Green Horizons
Large-scale retail (GDO ) and food service have been relying in vain on an unlikely, if not impossible, exemption to rules already defined in the European Union under the Circular Economy Package. (13) The food industry, in turn, continues to use polybag packaging even when there are excellent alternatives (e.g., paper and cardboard for pasta).
Instead, the Italian bioplastics industry, in synergy with agribusiness players, could now develop projects of a far different scope. Focusing on the design and production of long-lasting containers and tableware that can truly contribute to the priorities of Reduce and Reuse. With the added advantage over traditional plastics of not using toxic chemicals. (14)
Dario Dongo and Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) EU Dir. 2019/904, on reducing the impact of certain plastic products on the environment. See Article 5 and Annex, Part B. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32019L0904&qid=1622734587345
(2) Dario Dongo. Single-use plastics, the EU directive at the finish line. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 12/21/18, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/imballaggi/plastiche-monouso-la-direttiva-ue-al-traguardo
(3) European Commission. Commission guidelines on single-use plastic products in accordance with Directive (EU) 2019/904 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment. C(2021) 3762 final. 5/31/21, https://ec.europa.eu/environment/pdf/plastics/guidelines_single-use_plastics_products.pdf
(4) Dario Dongo, Sabrina Bergamini. Alternatives to plastic? Greenpeace’s complaint. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10/27/19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/imballaggi/alternative-alla-plastica-la-denuncia-di-greenpeace
(5) EU Dir. 2019/904, Article 17
(6) Law 22.4.21, no. 53. Delegation of powers to the government for the transposition of European directives and the implementation of other acts of the European Union – European Delegation Act 2019-2020. See art. 22. https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:legge:2021;53
(7) Dario Dongo. Single-use plastics, the proposed EU directive. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 7/23/18, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/plastica-monouso-la-proposta-di-direttiva-ue
(8) Dario Dongo, Luca Foltran. Disposable plastic. Stop from Strasbourg. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10/27/18, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/plastica-monouso-stop-da-strasburgo
(9) Dario Dongo, Marta Strinati. Compostable plastics, double-digit growth. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 6/20/19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/plastiche-compostabili-crescita-a-doppia-cifra
(10) Dario Dongo. Plastics and greenhouse gas emissions, an emergency to be prevented. Scientific study. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9.2.20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/imballaggi/plastica-ed-emissioni-di-gas-serra-un-emergenza-da-prevenire-studio-scientifico
(11) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Bulk food at the supermarket, the ecological transition in France. 5/17/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/imballaggi-e-moca/alimenti-sfusi-al-supermercato-la-transizione-ecologica-in-francia
(12) Dario Dongo, Luca Foltran. Plastic Tax and reuse, Italian diatribes and examples in Europe. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 4.11.19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/imballaggi/plastictax-e-riutilizzo-diatribe-italiane-ed-esempi-in-europa
(13) Luca Foltran, Dario Dongo. Circular economy, ABC EU package. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 6.6.18, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/imballaggi/economia-circolare-abc-pacchetto-ue
(14) Marta Strinati. Toxic chemicals in disposable packaging and tableware. PFAS investigation in EU. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 5/29/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/imballaggi-e-moca/sostanze-chimiche-tossiche-in-imballaggi-e-stoviglie-usa-e-getta-inchiesta-sui-pfas-in-ue
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
