Original title: The European Union to solicit the whole society to recycle plastic waste recommendations

International online news (reporter Liu Huazeng, Jin Li) : The European Commission issued a green paper on plastic waste on the 7th, in the EU to improve the reuse of plastic products, reduce the impact of plastic waste on the environment and other issues to solicit advice.

Potocnik, the commissioner responsible for environmental affairs of the European Commission, said in announcing the green paper that how to deal with plastic waste has posed a challenge to the environmental protection work in Europe. He said that the purpose of the green paper is to collect information, data, views and suggestions so that policy makers can take effective countermeasures at the EU level. "I am pleased to be here today to launch the EU Green Paper on plastic waste disposal. In this Green Paper, the European Union calls on everyone, experts and non-experts alike, to tackle one of the most pressing issues facing our society, namely, how to deal with plastic waste."

The European Commission pointed out in the green paper that once plastic waste enters the environment, especially the Marine environment, the degradation cycle is often up to hundreds of years. At present, the world every year more than 10 million tons of waste into the ocean, 80% of which are plastic products, the ocean has become the world's largest plastic waste "landfill". "Plastic waste is a serious threat to Marine biodiversity. Microplastics are also carriers of disturbances that enter the food chain and pose a serious potential threat to our health. Today's Green paper aims to get to the root of this problem. Managing plastic waste is not only a major environmental challenge, but it also highlights how managing plastic waste can improve the efficiency of resources in Europe."

According to statistics, the global plastic products from 1.5 million tons in 1950 rapidly increased to 245 million tons in 2008, and this trend will continue. What is even more worrying is that people are accustomed to the idea that plastic is a cheap thing, so plastic waste is easily thrown away, and the recycling rate is very low. In the European Union, about half of all plastic waste ends up in landfills. Potocnik says the European Union will allocate funds to get more plastic recycled. "In many cases, [recycling] is also about funding. I call on the EU to make good use of the convergence Fund and the Structural funds. To be clear, the use of these funds will be linked to the separation of waste. In the future, we will definitely not spend any more money on landfills, but on recycling facilities."

In order to arouse the public's awareness of environmental protection to a greater extent, the launch site of the Green paper also played the documentary "The Sea of Garbage" filmed by the famous British actor Jeremy Irons. Irons said at the press conference that the government, enterprises, shops and consumers all have the responsibility and obligation to reduce plastic waste and can do it well. "Ireland, for example, doesn't get everything right, but it does get this one right. They put a 15 euro cent tax on every plastic bag and in a year plastic bag consumption went down by 92%. The remaining 8 per cent was sold for more than 15 euro cents, bringing in €12m, which went back into recycling in the country."

The European Commission set out 26 questions in the green paper, asking for suggestions from society, businesses, research institutions, scientists and the general public. The questions include: What chemical design processes can improve the recyclability of plastic waste? And should the EU ban plastic waste from landfills altogether? Should door-to-door recycling of plastic waste be introduced in EU countries and charged for it? The consultation will run until the end of May, and the various social proposals will eventually be incorporated into the European Commission's 2014 legislative proposals.

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(Liu Huazhen Jinli, International Online)

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