Last May, the European Commission (EC) called on the tobacco industry to take responsibility for the waste it produces and shoulder part of the clean-up costs of single-use plastic in cigarette filters. Subsequently, last Tuesday, Minister Schulze said that Big Tobacco could be involved by contributing to the costs of cleaning up public spaces beaches and parks.
“Those who produce disposable items, such as cigarettes, will have to take more responsibility for the garbage in the future,” said Germany’s Environment Minister, “We will introduce a Europe-wide ban on unnecessary disposable plastic before the end of this year. We have to resort to more drastic measures than before.”
The EC, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers are expected to discuss the proposed directive on single-use plastics in Brussels next week. The Commission said that this directive would bring both “environmental and economic benefits,” and it was calculated that it could help avoid the release of 3.4 million tons of carbon dioxide and prevent environmental damages worth 22 billion euros (25.1 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030.
Read Further: Xinhua News
