Legislation
On 18th February 2002 the then EU Environment Commissioner, Margot Wallstrőm, said, in a letter to the Irish MEP Avril Doyle that "it would be consistent with the spirit of Community environment policy and legislation if a state applying a plastic bag tax were to decide to adopt a more beneficial tax rate in relation to biodegradable carrier bags."
On 18th July 2008 Dr. Caroline Jackson MEP (immediate past-Chairman of the Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety Committee of the European Parliament, and the Rapporteur for the EU Waste Framework Directive) issued a press statement as follows:
"European legislation on waste has tended to concentrate on waste which can be collected, and to encourage people to reduce, re-use, and dispose responsibly of their waste, by recycling, incineration with energy-recovery, or by other disposal routes."
"However, we also need to take account of the fact that we will never succeed in collecting all the waste and that some may remain to disfigure the landscape. This is particularly the case with plastic waste, from errant supermarket bags to agricultural plastic. Where this goes uncollected it can accumulate in the environment, polluting the land and the oceans for many decades, and perhaps for hundreds of years."
"However, technologies have now become available which can produce plastic products such as shopping bags, garbage sacks, packaging etc. which are fit for purpose, but will harmlessly degrade at the end of their useful life. These fall into two broad categories, namely:
1. Hydro-biodegradable plastics, made wholly or partly from crops, which biodegrade in a highly microbial environment, such as composting, and
2. Oxo-biodegradable plastics, made from a by-product of oil-refining, which degrade in the environment by a process of oxidation initiated by an additive, and then biodegrade after their molecular weight has reduced to the point where naturally-occurring micro-organisms can access the material."
"We need to encourage both of these technologies, and to ensure that European Standards are developed which are appropriate to both. It is worth bearing in mind that the Parliament is concerned by the use of scarce land and water resources around the world to produce biofuels in competition with food-crops and the same concern applies to growing crops to make biodegradable plastics, so I hope the European Commission will give more positive support to oxo-bio plastics."
A. TYPES OF LEGISLATION
A government wishing to encourage or require the use of degradable plastic may.
1. impose a tax on conventional plastic, with a lower tax or no tax at all on degradable plastic, or
2. ban the use of conventional plastic, but permit degradable plastic.
B. WHICH PRODUCTS?
Government may apply the legislation
1. to shopping bags alone, or
2. to one or more items on the following list:
a) Carrier bags or "shopper-bags" which consumers use to take away their purchases from a retail outlet.
b) Refuse sacks for disposal of household, garden or commercial waste.
c) Bags to contain dog faeces
d) Bin liners
e) Laundry bags
f) Sheets and bags for use in agriculture or horticulture
g) Film for wrapping newspapers, magazines, and other similar items for delivery
h) Bread bags and other food packaging film, including frozen food packaging
i) Film for packaging furniture and electrical goods
j) "Bubble-wrap", shrink-wrap, and pallet-wrap
k) Bottles and other containers for food and beverages
Legislation may authorise the Minister to add more items from time to time, and may specify different commencement dates for different products.
C. TYPE OF DEGRADABLE PLASTIC
Legislation may define "Degradable Plastic" as (1) oxo-biodegradable or (2) hydro-biodegradable, or (3) both.
1. OXO-BIODEGRADABLE plastic means plastic containing a controlled percentage of a pro-degradant additive, which will cause the plastic to degrade by a process of oxo-biodegradation without emitting methane and without causing eco-toxicity. Oxo-biodegradation means "degradation resulting from oxidative and cell-mediated phenomena, either simultaneously or successively. Plastic can be proved to be oxo-biodegradable using the test methods prescribed by American Standard D6954-04.
2. HYDRO-BIODEGRADABLE plastic means plastic made wholly from materials of vegetable origin which degrade by a process of hydrolysis followed by degradation due to cell-mediated phenomena. Plastic can be proved to be hydro-biodegradable using the test methods prescribed by ISO 17088, American Standard D 6400-04 or D6868; European Standard 13432 or Australian Standard 4736-06.
D. APPLYING TO WHOM?
Legislation may apply to:
1. Everybody, or
2. Specific sections of the public eg. Restaurants, Supermarkets etc.
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Legislation in Espirito Santo State and Goias State and several cities, in Brazil have adopted options A2, B2, C1 and D2
Legislation in Neuquen Province, Argentina has adopted options A2 , B2, C3 and D2
Proposed Legislation in Parana State, Brazil has adopted options A2, B2, C1, D2
Proposed National legislation in Brazil has adopted options A1, B2, C3, D2
Legislation in Mexico City has adopted A2, B2, C3, D2
Legislation in Slovenia has adopted options A1, B2, C3, D2
Legislation in Romania has adopted A1, B1, C3, D2
Legislation in Hungary has adopted A1, B2, C3, D1
Legislation in the United Arab Emirates has adopted A2, B1, C1, D2
Legislation in Montenegro has adopted A1, B2, C3, D1
Legislation in Ajman (UAE) has adopted A2, B2, C1, D1
Legislation in Barbados has adopted A1, B2, C3, D1
Legislation in Mauritius has adopted A2, B1, C1, D1
Some legislators in the United States have been led down the wrong path by the cornstarch lobby into preferring hydro-biodegradable to the exclusion of oxo-biodegradable plastic. (see http://www.biodeg.org/position-papers/comparison/?domain=biodeg.org, and http://www.biodeg.org/files/uploaded/biodeg/Bioplastics_Mag-GS_article(6).pdf )
Some legislators have opted for an outright ban on plastic carrier-bags, but this is not a practical solution as the alternatives may be more damaging to the environment. (see http://www.biodeg.org/position-papers/Plastic-bag-bans/?domain=biodeg.org )
In the United States, On 27th January 2010 the California Court of Appeals refused to allow the City of Manhattan Beach to ban plastic bags without making a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment. They must now consider among other relevant factors whether a ban on plastic bags would increase the use of paper bags or would cause other damaging effects upon the environment.
See: http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/page.htm?shortname=incaco20100127062
and http://www.biodeg.org/position-papers/Plastic-bag-bans/?domain=biodeg.org
A better option is to require plastic bags and other plastic products to be degradable.
In some countries eg Ireland, a tax has been placed on all plastic shopping bags without distinguishing between degradable and non-degradable. This has benefitted the supermarkets, who no longer have to pay for so many bags, but it has led to an increase in sales of plastic garbage sacks, bin liners and other short-life plastic products. A large number of plastic products are still being sold in these countries, but there is no incentive to make them degradable.
According to the UK Dept. for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (The Guardian, 3 October 2007) "We don't think a ban or levy is the right way to go. In Ireland, people just bought more bin liners to replace free carrier bags, so the volume of waste stayed the same".