The Single-Use Plastics Directive entered into force on 3
July 2019 and Member States had two years to transpose the legislation into
national law in order for the obligations under the Directive to start being
applied on the ground.
However, not all member states, including Portugal,
transposed the directive within the deadline, and the EU executive sent 16
letters of formal notice in January.
Nine of them have not yet communicated all the measures
necessary to ensure the full transposition of the Directive into their national
law, and reasoned opinions have therefore been sent today.
If Portugal does not report the full transposition of the
Directive within the new two-month deadline, Brussels may take the case to the
EU Court of Justice.
According to a European Commission press release, single-use
plastic products are accumulating in seas, oceans and beaches and while plastic
is a convenient, useful and valuable material, plastic waste causes
environmental damage and has a negative impact on the economy.
Over 80% of marine litter is made up of plastics which cause
damage to the environment particularly and directly harming marine life
and birds and which, when fragmented into microplastics, can also enter the
human food chain.
I would love to reduce my single use plastic water bottles upto 60 litres of water a week for drinking and cooking. I do keep some to keep rainwater in, but the local waterboard are not proactive in supplying mains water to its residents, even though we are expected to pay for the installation.
By David Clark from Algarve on 03 Oct 2022, 10:07
Every morning, the centre of Lisbon is a complete mess thanks to single use plastic. There are plastic cups everywhere and they all come from the big beer companies. They should be fined for still producing these cups.
By Richard from Lisbon on 03 Oct 2022, 11:02