“Our planet is drowning in plastic. Today in the European Parliament, MEPs chose to act to limit their impact on the environment,” said Fianna Fail MEP Billy Kelleher.
Kelleher, a member of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee, was speaking following the adoption of a new regulation, which aims to prevent plastic pellet losses and to reduce micro-plastic pollution.
“Up to 184 tons of plastic pellets are lost in this way every year. This cannot continue. Our planet is simply drowning in plastic.
“This regulation attempts to provide for two things - the proper establishment of circular business models to reduce wastage and secondly to reduce the release of micro plastics into the environment by 30% by 2030
“This regulation marks an essential step in the fight against microplastic pollution on a European scale, by tackling the issue of losses of plastic pellets (the raw material for plastics derived from petrochemicals).
“We need preventative measures to plug the leaks where spills and losses occur in plastic manufacturing and plastic transport, storage and recycling operations.
“Crucially, this regulation covers the entire value chain, and includes all types of transport, in particular maritime transport,
“This regulation isn’t only about the future. It proposes to tackle existing pollution, by introducing the possibility for Member States to use part of the penalties to support depollution projects.
“There will be clear requirements to develop a risk assessment plan on manufactures and transporters. Certification requirements for facilities handling plastic pellets, clear labelling of storage and shipping containers, corporate training programs on pellet loss prevention, monitoring, reporting, and cleaning technologies will also be required.
“The Fianna Fáil delegation was proud to support this important regulation and to start taking these necessary and important steps to rid our environment of plastic pellet losses,” concluded Kelleher.
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