Environmental movement asks De Croo government for powerful measures against plastic pollution

This is what the environmental organisations Bond Beter Leefmilieu, Recycling Netwerk Benelux and Zero Waste Belgium write in a joint memorandum sent to the federal government.

By 3 July, the European Single-Use Plastics Directive must be implemented into Belgian law. The federal government is currently considering the measures to be laid down in a Royal Decree (RD).

About half of the plastic waste that ends up in the sea consists of take-away packaging waste. The environmental organisations therefore fully support the proposed ban on single-use plastic bags, drinking cups and food containers provided for in Minister Zakia Khattabi's draft RD. This is a crucial measure in the fight against plastic pollution in rivers, seas and oceans.

To prevent the ban on plastic drinking cups and food containers from leading to their replacement by other single-use materials, reusable packaging will have to be offered compulsorily in the catering sector from 2023. We therefore ask the federal government to also formulate sharp targets for the share of reusable packaging in the RD. The Belgian government can adopt measures from the French Circular Economy Law, which bans all superfluous single-use plastics by 2040. As a prelude to this, catering businesses in France may only offer reusable tableware for in-house consumption from 2023. In Germany, too, legislation was passed this year requiring the catering industry to offer reusable packaging for both on-site and on-the-go consumption from 2023.

In order to achieve the target of the European directive for the separate collection of beverage bottles, the federal government must introduce a deposit system. The federal coalition agreement provides for this possibility through the reform of the packaging tax.