Where alternatives are easily available and affordable, single-use plastic products will be banned from the market. Different measures apply to different products:
- A total ban on selected single-use products made of plastic for which alternatives exist on the market by 2021
- Measures to reduce consumption of food containers and beverage cups made of plastic and specific marking and labelling of certain products.
- Extended Producer Responsibility schemes covering the cost to clean-up litter (tobacco filters and fishing gear).
- A 90% separate collection target for plastic bottles by 2029 and the introduction of design requirements to connect caps to bottles, as well as target to incorporate 25% of recycled plastic in PET bottles by 2025 and 30% in all plastic bottles as from 2030.
The items concerned are: cotton buds, cutlery, plates, straws & stirrers, sticks for balloons and balloons, food containers, cups for beverages, beverage containers, cigarette butts, plastic bags, crisp packets & sweet wrappers, as well as wet wipes and sanitary items and fishing gear.