EU Votes Overwhelmingly to Ban Single-Use Plastics

 

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A post shared by Justin Hofman (@justinhofman) on Sep 12, 2017 at 8:28am PDT

The measure does not only target plastic pollution. Cigarette butt litter will also be tackled by making tobacco companies cover the cost of collection. Cigarette filters leach toxins when wet (including nicotine, benzene, and cadmium), and are mostly made of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic which takes decades to degrade.

The new measure was largely motivated by the growing concerns over plastic pollution in oceans around the world, especially in conjunction with stories of whales found dead with plastic in their stomachs and other marine wildlife suffering from our garbage problem. According to Aljazeera, of the 25 million tonnes of plastic waste produced by the EU each year, only a quarter of it is recycled.

H/T: Al Jazeera