Cheap and durable plastics are widely used, but their soaring popularity has been accompanied by growing amounts of plastic waste and marine litter, which affects the environment and people's health.
Every year about 26 million tonnes of plastic waste are generated in the EU. Less than 30% of it is recycled, while some of it is exported to non-EU countries for treatment. The rest either goes to landfill, is incinerated, or ends up uncollected in nature, including on beaches or in forests, rivers and seas.
In a bid to tackle plastic pollution, the European Commission proposed a plastics strategy with the aims of ensuring that by 2030 every piece of plastic packaging can be reused or recycled, as well as of reducing the consumption of single-use plastics and the use of micro-plastics.
A plastic strategy for a circular economy (Euronews)
