The Single-Use Plastic Waste

Stream
PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ERL 2003
BENTHE VERMEULEN: 2204563

Academic year: 2022_2023

Table of Abbreviations

BCRS Beverage Container Refund Scheme

EU European Union

EPR Extended Producer Responsibility

PET Polyethylene Terephthalate

SUP Single-use Plastic

Table of Contents
Introduction

Section I: The Restrictions on placing on the market of single-use plastic products Regulations

Section II: The Single-Use Plastic Framework Regulations

Consumption Reduction
Product Requirements and Separate Collection
Awareness Raising
Extended Producer Responsibility

Conclusion

Bibliography
Legislation
Thesis
Online Publications
News Articles
Database
Introduction
Many areas of our daily activities use materials composed of or containing plastics, which
play a significant role in our economy. When compared to other recyclables (i.e. paper,
metals and glass), their poor rates of reuse, recovery, and recycling imposes the biggest
challenge. Due to improper disposal techniques and a lack of collection, most plastic waste
streams end up being dumped in landfills, burned, or littered eventually ending up in the
oceans. In the EU 80 to 85% of marine litter is plastic with over 50% of those plastics
representing single-use plastics.

The EU has set the target that by 2030 all plastic packaging introduced on the European
market must be re-usable or easily recycled to achieve a more circular economy. 1 However,
single-use plastics remain a big source of plastic leakage into the environment as they are
difficult to recycle and often used far away from home. To tackle the single-use plastic
problem Directive (EU) 2019/904 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products
on the environment was introduced also known as the SUP Directive. This directive has the
1
European Commission, ‘A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’ (January 2018)
https://www.europarc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Eu-plastics-strategy-brochure.pdf accessed 22
January 2023
aim to prevent and reduce the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, in
particular the aquatic environment, and on human health, as well as to promote the
transition to a circular economy with innovative and sustainable business models, products
and materials, thus also contributing to the efficient functioning of the internal market. 2

As a part of the EU Malta has had to make efforts in complying with EU policy governing
different waste streams. This essay will discuss the Maltese subsidiary law ruling the single-
use plastic waste stream. Article 3(2) of the SUP Directive defines single-use plastic products
as a product that is made wholly or partly from plastic and that is not conceived, designed or
placed on the market to accomplish, within its life span, multiple trips or rotations by being
returned to a producer for refill or re-used for the same purpose for which it was conceived. 3

The first section will briefly discuss the Restrictions on placing on the market of single-use
plastic products regulations. Section II will dissect the Single-Use Plastic Framework
Regulations. It will try to identify the different aims present in the legislation accompanied
by personal opinions on how these can be reinforced based on Maltese current affairs.

Section I: The Restrictions on placing on the market of single-use

plastic products Regulations
Malta has implemented the SUP Directive in a staggered fashion. Firstly, the Restrictions on
placing on the market of single-use plastic products Regulations of 30 December 2022
transposed Article 5, Articles 6(1) and (2), and Article 7(1) of the SUP Directive. Article 4 of
this regulation provides that from 1 January 2021, the placing on the market of certain
single-use plastic products will be prohibited. Essentially all products made from oxo-
degradable plastic will be banned. Regulation 2 defines oxo-degradable plastic as plastic
materials that include additives which through oxidation, lead to the fragmentation of the
plastic material into micro-fragments or to chemical decomposition. 4 These microplastics are

2
Directive 2019/904 of 5 June 2019 of the of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction of
the impact of certain plastic products on the environment OJ L 155, art. 1
3

4
very dangerous as they accumulate in the sea where marine life ingests them. Recent studies
also found microplastics in air, drinking water, and other foods like salt or honey, with yet
unknown impacts on human health.5 Furthermore, the Regulations also provide a list of
specific single-use plastic products which will be prohibited as of 2021: Cotton bud sticks,
Cutlery, Plates, Straws, Beverage stirrers, Balloon sticks, and Polystyrene food containers and
beverage cups including caps and lids. Lastly, the Regulations impose a ban from 1 January
2024 on placing on the market plastic beverage containers with lids or caps not attached, as
these often end up in the aquatic environment.

Section II: The Single-Use Plastic Framework Regulations

Nonetheless, these regulations don’t suffice in combating reducing the littering and
consumption of single-use plastics in Malta. On the 22 of September 2022, the Government
introduced the final Single-Use Plastic Framework Regulations after the draft of this
framework was published for public consultation at the end of 2021.

Consumption Reduction
The first pillar of the framework is the consumption reduction of single-use plastic food
containers and cups for beverages consolidated in regulation 4. This objective is to be
reached in two different ways. Firstly, the minister is given the authority to ‘take the
necessary measures to achieve an ambitious and sustained reduction in the consumption of
the single-use plastic products listed in Part A of Schedule 1.’ These measures may include
national consumption reduction targets. Regulation 4 remains very vague as to the measures
that can be taken by the minister and pose no concrete consumption reduction target for
him or her. I believe that to achieve a substantial reduction in the consumption of single-use
plastic products a binding reduction goal is worth considering. The regulations only mention
there shall be a ‘measurable quantitative reduction in the consumption of the single-use
plastic products listed in Part A of Schedule 1 on the territory of Malta by the year 2026
compared to the year 2022.’ In my opinion, this formulation is too broad. Moreover, it

5
European Commission, ‘A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’ (January 2018)
https://www.europarc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Eu-plastics-strategy-brochure.pdf accessed 22
January 2023
makes holding the minister accountable for his obligation under regulation 4 very difficult,
since there is no specific target to reach.

Secondly, the responsibility is put on catering establishments. They are to provide reusable
alternatives and give incentives to customers who bring their alternatives to single-use
plastic products. Additionally, single-use plastic food containers and cups for beverages
including their caps and lids are not to be provided at catering establishments free of charge
to their customers. I fear that catering establishments will exchange single-use plastic
products for disposable containers made from other materials. Putting a tax on disposable
packaging made

from for example paper or wood can counteract or at least reduce this shift. There is a
change in mindset needed among Maltese citizens to make reusable products the new
norm.

Product Requirements and Separate Collection

The second objective of the regulations is to change the way plastic products are designed
by placing product requirements on single-use plastics. Article 6.5 of the SUP Directive
requires Member States to ensure that by 2025 beverage bottles manufactured from
polyethylene terephthalate as the major component (PET bottles) contain at least 25%
recycled plastic. This target is raised to 30% by 2030. This article is transposed by regulation
5 of the framework regulations.

These obligations are intended to push producers to focus on eco-design with attention to
reusability and recyclability. However, the high levels of additives that are added to PET
bottles so the product to appeals more to customers complicate the recycling process
substantially and push their costs up. Moreover, recycled plastics are in low demand
because there are concerns about their quality and food safety. 6 Considering these
obstacles, I believe that to reach the product requirements laid down in regulation 5 there
6
European Commission, ‘A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’ (January 2018)
https://www.europarc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Eu-plastics-strategy-brochure.pdf accessed 22
January 2023
must be a bigger emphasis on the separate collection and sorting of PET bottles. Only then
can pollution by other contaminated plastic packaging be avoided and can quality standards
be guaranteed.

In 2020 Malta only recovered about 10% of its plastic packaging compared to a 37,7% EU
average which makes it the lowest rate of all the Member States. 7 Regulation 11 of the
Framework Regulations has laid down the obligation that by 2025 77% of the single-use
plastic

beverage bottles are to be collected separately by producers. This objective is raised to 90%
by 2029 in line with EU policy.8

One way to achieve this is the establishment of a deposit system. A deposit system serves
two objectives: separating the collection of packaging and stimulating reuse. On 14
November 2022 the Beverage Container Refund Scheme (BCRS) began its operations in
Malta with 320 vending Machines being distributed around the territory. The scheme is run
by a private non-profit owned by the Malta Beverage Producers Association. The deposit
system charges a fee of 10 cents on single-use beverage containers made from glass,
aluminum, and plastic registered with the BCRS. When depositing the beverage containers
into the vending machine the customers can redeem these 10 cents in a voucher.
Nonetheless, the BCRS has already had to face a couple of obstacles. The scheme has been
criticized because of malfunction of the vending machines, the insufficient number of
vending machines available and because of this the littering that accumulates surrounding
the machines, and the trouble that the elderly or disabled people have using the scheme. 9
However I believe, that these problems are normal in a starting phase. Better management
7
Eurostat, ‘Recycling rates of packaging waste for monitoring compliance with policy targets, by type of
packaging’ (20/10/2022)
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASPACR__custom_4618728/default/bar?lang=en
accessed 22 January 2023
8
European Commission, ‘A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’ (January 2018)
https://www.europarc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Eu-plastics-strategy-brochure.pdf accessed 22
January 2023
by the BCRS and a culture shift towards a more circular economy will make the BCRS a
success. Bottle-to-bottle recycling prevents PET bottles from being downcycled into a
product of lesser quality. Moreover, through a bottle-to-bottle system a PET bottle can be
recycled up to 10 times into a new bottle. 10 A deposit system has been proven to be very
effective in other Member States such as The Netherlands and Germany where the
collection rate is 95% and 98,5% respectively. 11 Nevertheless the success of a deposit system
is strongly linked to the monetary incentive of costumers to return their PET bottles. In
Malta, this incentive amounts to 10 cents per bottle. Compared to other

Member States this is on the lower end. For instance, in The Netherlands and Germany, the
deposit charge ranges between 15 cents and 25 cents depending on the product returned. 12

Awareness Raising
Awareness raising is the third principle present in the framework regulations. As previously
mentioned, to reduce the pollution of the climate there must be a shift from a linear to a
circular economy. This can be achieved by making people more aware of the negative effects
of single-use plastics on the environment. Regulation 12 requires the minister to take
measures to inform consumers and to incentivize responsible consumer behavior, to reduce
litter from products covered by these regulations. Schedule 1 Part E of the framework
contains a list of single-use plastic products for which the minister shall take measures to
inform consumers about the availability of reusable alternatives, reuse systems, and waste
management. In addition to this, the minister must also inform customers about the
negative effects these products have on the environment when littered especially the
marines, and the negative effects on the sewage system when these products are
inappropriately disposed of. Some of the products listed in Part E of Schedule 1 are
containers for ready-to-eat food, tobacco filters, balloons, tampons, etc.
9
Matthew Xuereb, ‘St Paul's Bay council warns it will block access to BCRS machines’ Times of Malta (29
December 2022) https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/mayor-warns-block-access-bcrs-machines-attracting-
rubbish.1004236 accessed 22 January 2023
10
Isabelle Vanhoutte, ‘Environment: are your PET bottles really being recycled?’ Knack (11 March 2019)
https://www.knack.be/nieuws/milieu/milieu-worden-uw-petflessen-echt-gerecycleerd/ accessed 22 January
2023
11
Recover, ‘Towards a better policy for packaging waste in Flanders’ (25 October 2018) <
https://vvsgbe.sharepoint.com/sites/Interafval/Shared%20Documents/General/TEA%20Archief/LWE
%20d475.pdf?ga=1> accessed on 22 January 2023
12
Ibid.
Placing marking requirements on single-use plastic products can raise awareness. Regulation
6 requires certain single-use plastic products to bear a conspicuous, clearly legible, and
indelible marking on their packaging or on the product itself. These markings must inform
the consumers about the appropriate and inappropriate waste management options.
Moreover, the marking must give information about the presence of plastic in the product
and the resulting negative impact of littering on the environment. Products that don’t
comply with the requirements will be prohibited. The products that must comply are listed
in Schedule 1 Part B: Sanitary towels, tampons, tampon applicators, wet wipes, tobacco
filters, and cups for beverages. This is a transposition of article 7 of the SUP Directive.

In my opinion, education is the field in which awareness raising can have its greatest effects.
Integrating waste management education into the school curriculum, including teaching kids
about the causes and effects of trash disposal, and emphasizing the necessity of waste
prevention, reuse, and recycling is an efficient strategy to enhance attitudes toward waste
reuse and recycling. This can be facilitated by local governments and/or waste management
organizations through outreach initiatives, sending representatives to nearby schools,
inviting students to facility tours or open houses, etc.13

Extended Producer Responsibility

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is to ensure that companies/producers who
manufacture and/or import products and place these products on the market assume
responsibility for those products. The producer is responsible for the entire life cycle of a
product with an emphasis on retrieval, recycling, and final processing. This principle also fully
coincides with the European principle that it is the polluter who should pay. 14

13
European Commission, ‘Best Environmental Management Practice: awareness-raising’
https://greenbestpractice.jrc.ec.europa.eu/node/84 accessed 22 January 2023
14
Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union [2016] OJ C202/1 (TFEU) art.
191.
Regulations 7 and 8 transpose article 8 of the SUP Directive. These regulations establish an
EPR on producers of certain single-use plastic products in Malta. Regulation 7 focuses on
tobacco products containing plastic in their filters and fishing gear containing plastic. The
Minister shall establish EPR schemes for these single-use plastic products, which must at
least cover the following costs: awareness-raising measures (regulation 12), costs of cleaning
up litter and the subsequent transport and treatment of that litter, and the costs of data
gathering and reporting. Producers of tobacco filters shall also pay for the waste collection
of those products that are discarded in public collection systems, including the infrastructure
and its operation, and the subsequent transport and treatment of that waste. However, this
scheme had to be set up by 5 January 2023 and as of today 22 January 2023, no publication
was made of the establishment of the scheme. Regulation 8 requires producers of single-use
plastic products listed in Sections I and II of Part C of Schedule 1 to participate in a packaging

waste recovery organization by the 5 th of January 2023. This organization shall cover the
costs of awareness-raising measures (regulation 12), costs of cleaning up litter and the
subsequent transport and treatment of that litter, waste collection for those products that
are discarded in public collection systems, including infrastructure and its operation, and the
subsequent transport and treatment of waste, and lastly data gathering and reporting

EPR serves two goals: shifting the responsibility and subsequent costs from the community
to the producer and stimulating producers to redevelop their products with attention to eco-
design. I believe that EPR is a great way to change producer behavior When we put the cost
on the producer, they will have the incentive to keep that cost as low as possible.
Furthermore, to achieve a better EPR, a financial reward for producers could be considered.
At the national level, priority should be given to measures of waste prevention and recycling,
and here a financial reward could provide an incentive. The European Union has already said
it wants to provide state aid for this purpose.15

15
European Commission, ‘Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy 2014-2020’ (28
June 2016) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52014XC0628(01)&from=NL
accessed 22 January 2023
Conclusion
As shown in this essay single-use plastics form a major challenge for our environment. This is
especially the case in a country like Malta surrounded by sea polluted with plastic. Malta has
transposed the SUP Directive in its subsidiary law, which is a big step forward in the fight
against single-use plastics. Firstly, the Restrictions on placing on the market of single-use
plastic products Regulations banned the placing of all oxo-degradable plastics on the
Maltese market because they can lead to the fragmentation of the plastic material into
micro-fragments or to chemical decomposition. Furthermore, the regulations prohibited the
placing on the market of a whole list of single-use plastics products as of January 2021.

Secondly, The Single-Use Plastic Framework Regulations transposed the remaining articles of
the SUP Directive. The first aim of these regulations is the reduction of consumption of
single-use plastic products through measures taken by the Minister and by stimulating
catering

establishments to offer reusable products as an alternative. The second objective is to

increase of ecologically designed products. By 2025 PET bottles must contain at least 25%
recycled plastic. This target can only be reached by the separate collection and recycling of
these products. One way Malta is trying to accomplish this is through BCRS. As mentioned,
the BCRS still copes with a couple of challenges. However, I believe this scheme has great
potential as demonstrated in other Member States. A change from a linear to a circular
economy can only be achieved if the Maltese people are made more aware of the negative
effect single-use plastic products have on the environment. This can happen through the
labeling of single-use plastic products, but I believe that awareness raising should start as
early as possible and that is why waste management should be integrated into the
curriculum at school. The last pillar of the Framework Regulations is EPR, a translation of the
polluter pays principle. EPR schemes are a great way to incentivize producers to consider an
ecological design that is easily recyclable or even reusable. This way, less plastic packaging is
produced and plastic waste decreases.
To conclude, the subsidiary legislation on single-use plastic is a very important step forward
in the conservation of the Maltese environment against pollution. The regulations hold great
potential. However, it’s still too early to say if the measures taken by the government will
live up to them.

Bibliography

Legislation

Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, 7 June 2016.

Directive 2019/904 of the of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction of
the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, 5 June 2019.

Restrictions on Placing on the Market of Single-use Plastic Products Regulations (S.L.

549.140), 30 December 2020

Single-use Plastic Framework Regulations (S.L. 549.149), 16 September 2022.

Thesis
Van Gelder A, ‘Plastic in Europe: The legal framing of plastic packaging waste in Flanders in a
comparative law study with the Netherlands’ (thesis KU Leuven 2021)

Online Publications

European Commission, ‘Best Environmental Management Practice: awareness-raising’

https://greenbestpractice.jrc.ec.europa.eu/node/84

European Commission, ‘A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’ (January

2018) https://www.europarc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Eu-plastics-strategy-
brochure.pdf

Recover, ‘Towards a better policy for packaging waste in Flanders’ (25 October 2018) <
https://vvsgbe.sharepoint.com/sites/Interafval/Shared%20Documents/General/TEA
%20Archief/LWE%20d475.pdf?ga=1>

News Articles

Vanhoutte I, ‘Environment: are your PET bottles really being recycled?’ Knack (11 March
2019) https://www.knack.be/nieuws/milieu/milieu-worden-uw-petflessen-echt-
gerecycleerd/

Xuereb M, ‘St Paul's Bay council warns it will block access to BCRS machines’ Times of Malta
(29 December 2022) https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/mayor-warns-block-access-
bcrs-machines-attracting-rubbish.1004236

Database

Eurostat, ‘Recycling rates of packaging waste for monitoring compliance with policy targets,
by type of packaging’ (20/10/2022)
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASPACR__custom_4618728/
default/bar?lang=en