On April 25, 2024, the EU Parliament took up its position on the EU Commission's proposal for a "Regulation on preventing plastic pellet losses to reduce microplastic pollution", and tightened up the regulation at various points. The proposal was made, for example, to extend the scope of validity of the regulation to small companies, to specify regular verification through certifications, and to take into account existing pollution through plastic pellets.
 

 

The regulation proposed by the Council and Parliament is to apply to all economic players who, in the EU, handle plastic pellets in quantities of more than 5 tonnes per year, and to EU and non-EU transport companies that transport plastic pellets in the EU, with the exception of marine traffic. This should define obligations for handling pellets at all stages of the supply chain in order to avoid losses (production, masterbatching and compounding, conversion, waste management, recycling, sales and marketing, repackaging, transport, storage and tank cleaning). Overall, firms are to be obliged by the planned rules to take more precautionary measures and to sensitise their employees to a greater extent to risks. The affected companies should, among other things, draw up risk reports and then introduce measures as to how discharges of microplastic into the environment can be avoided. Among the measures proposed in the draft for the safety of pellet transport are, for example, waterproof, sealed and tear and impact-resistant packaging, collecting basins and devices as well as drain covers. The draft also proposes detailed additional measures for the storage and packaging of plastic pellets for sea and inland waterway travel, because these involve considerable risks. Apart from that, the EU Commission is also to develop measures to chart already contaminated areas and clean them.
 
The planned requirements are based on the Operation Clean Sweep-Program (OCS) from the industry as well as recommendations from the Agreement on the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR). As part of the OCS program, an international, voluntary initiative by plastics producers that has been implemented in Europe since 2015, the industry has developed the OCS Europe certification system. With this, adherence to the requirements on avoiding pellet losses in the entire plastic supply chain will be controlled and documented by the companies..
 
Sources:

• www.eur-lex.europa.eu, document 52023PC0645
• www.opcleansweep.eu
• Photo: © Christian Lue / Unsplash