Friday, November 15, 2024

EU lawmakers consider strengthening plastic pollution laws after spill in Spain

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BRUSSELS: Some European Union lawmakers are pushing for stronger planning laws on microplastic pollution after millions of plastic pellets washed up on the coast of Spain’s northwestern Galicia region.

Tiny plastic pellets are used to make everyday items from water bottles to shopping bags. They are also an environmental threat, exacerbating the ocean plastic disaster. It is also very difficult to remove due to its small size.

The EU is developing legislation to prevent pellet spills, of which 176,000 tonnes are accidentally released each year, the European Chemical Agency said.

João Albuquerque, the EU Parliament’s chief negotiator on the new law, said on Thursday (January 11) that he proposed extending spill-prevention requirements for companies to the shipping sector, especially in the wake of the Galicia incident. Stated.

“This has become extremely urgent. Such dramas are almost always avoidable,” Albuquerque told an EU parliamentary committee.

His proposal would expand the law to cover not just pellets, but also plastic flakes, powders and dust used to make products.

Parliament is racing to agree a negotiating position to give talks with EU member states a chance to finalize the law before June’s EU general elections.

Green Party and Liberal MPs backed stronger measures on Thursday. The center-right European People’s Party resisted some forces, including Albuquerque’s attempts to increase the number of companies covered.

The millions of pellets that washed up in Spain came from at least one container that fell off a ship last month off the coast of neighboring Portugal.

Microplastics have been found in humans, polar sea ice, and the deepest ocean trenches, and can kill birds and turtles that eat microplastics.

The European Commission said the original proposal for the law omitted maritime transport because environmental issues in international shipping would be handled by the International Maritime Organization. But he suggested the law could be strengthened to at least cover plastic pollution from travel within the EU.



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