9.2 Policy Mapping on Plastic Reduction and Circular
Economy
WEF (2016) reports that “The circular economy is gaining growing attention as a
potential way for our society to increase prosperity, while reducing demands on
finite raw materials and minimizing negative externalities. Such a transition requires
a systemic approach, which entails moving beyond incremental improvements to the
existing model as well as developing new collaboration mechanisms.”
In January 2018, the European Commission launched the “EU Plastic Strategy”
(European Commission 2020) to reduce single-use plastic pollution followed by the
EU Directive on the “Reduction of the Impact of Certain Plastic Products on the
Environment” (SUPD), published in June 2019 and entered into force in July 2019 to
tackle the plastic waste issues in the European countries and reduce marine plastic
litter. The SUPD requires Member States (MS) to prohibit certain SUPs items
(cutlery, plates) use and requires MS to take the necessary measures to achieve an
ambitious and sustained reduction in the consumption of several other SUPs products. It is worth noticing that the SUPD covers single-use plastic items including
bio-based and biodegradable plastics regardless of whether they are derived from
biomass or are intended to biodegrade over time as well as those made of different
materials (multi-layered or composite materials), such as plastic-coated paper or
plastic-lined cartons.
As explicitly stated in Article 2, coherently with the “waste hierarchy” within the
Directive 852/2018 and the EU circular economy approach (EU action plan for the
Circular Economy – EU COM/2015/0614 – and European Strategy for Plastics in a
Circular Economy, EU COM/2018/028), the SUPD promotes circular approaches
that give priority to sustainable and nontoxic reusable products and reuse systems
rather than to single-use products, aiming first and foremost to reduce the quantity of
waste generated. The restrictions for food packaging and beverage cups introduced
by the SUPD offer the opportunity to scale up reusable alternatives rather than
simply switching to other single-use-based material. However, this requires a systemic and widespread behavioural change to move away from single-use plastics,
towards reusable products and systems. Despite several solutions being developed
and applied locally to prevent SUPs products across European regions and cities,
there is still a lack of policy support for the widespread of these alternative through
incentives for innovation adoption of non-SUPs products to enhance systemic
change and enable a drastic reduction of plastic consumption thus reduction of
plastic production and CO 2 emissions.
For a long-term, environmental policy in Greece mainly focused on waste
management (e.g. reduction and reusage), where CE projects were fragmented,
often considered identical to material recycling. Following the EU legislation and
the Communication of the Action Plan for the circular economy, the Hellenic
Ministry of Environment and Energy adopted a National Circular Economy Strategy
(NCES) in 2018 capturing a refined methodology of implementing CE in Greece
(Ministry of Energy and Environment 2018). Although significantly delayed, the
9 Tackling Single-Use-Plastic Products in the Easter Mediterranean Sea: The. . .
139
Economy
WEF (2016) reports that “The circular economy is gaining growing attention as a
potential way for our society to increase prosperity, while reducing demands on
finite raw materials and minimizing negative externalities. Such a transition requires
a systemic approach, which entails moving beyond incremental improvements to the
existing model as well as developing new collaboration mechanisms.”
In January 2018, the European Commission launched the “EU Plastic Strategy”
(European Commission 2020) to reduce single-use plastic pollution followed by the
EU Directive on the “Reduction of the Impact of Certain Plastic Products on the
Environment” (SUPD), published in June 2019 and entered into force in July 2019 to
tackle the plastic waste issues in the European countries and reduce marine plastic
litter. The SUPD requires Member States (MS) to prohibit certain SUPs items
(cutlery, plates) use and requires MS to take the necessary measures to achieve an
ambitious and sustained reduction in the consumption of several other SUPs products. It is worth noticing that the SUPD covers single-use plastic items including
bio-based and biodegradable plastics regardless of whether they are derived from
biomass or are intended to biodegrade over time as well as those made of different
materials (multi-layered or composite materials), such as plastic-coated paper or
plastic-lined cartons.
As explicitly stated in Article 2, coherently with the “waste hierarchy” within the
Directive 852/2018 and the EU circular economy approach (EU action plan for the
Circular Economy – EU COM/2015/0614 – and European Strategy for Plastics in a
Circular Economy, EU COM/2018/028), the SUPD promotes circular approaches
that give priority to sustainable and nontoxic reusable products and reuse systems
rather than to single-use products, aiming first and foremost to reduce the quantity of
waste generated. The restrictions for food packaging and beverage cups introduced
by the SUPD offer the opportunity to scale up reusable alternatives rather than
simply switching to other single-use-based material. However, this requires a systemic and widespread behavioural change to move away from single-use plastics,
towards reusable products and systems. Despite several solutions being developed
and applied locally to prevent SUPs products across European regions and cities,
there is still a lack of policy support for the widespread of these alternative through
incentives for innovation adoption of non-SUPs products to enhance systemic
change and enable a drastic reduction of plastic consumption thus reduction of
plastic production and CO 2 emissions.
For a long-term, environmental policy in Greece mainly focused on waste
management (e.g. reduction and reusage), where CE projects were fragmented,
often considered identical to material recycling. Following the EU legislation and
the Communication of the Action Plan for the circular economy, the Hellenic
Ministry of Environment and Energy adopted a National Circular Economy Strategy
(NCES) in 2018 capturing a refined methodology of implementing CE in Greece
(Ministry of Energy and Environment 2018). Although significantly delayed, the
9 Tackling Single-Use-Plastic Products in the Easter Mediterranean Sea: The. . .
139