The European Commission adopted the action plan “Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil” on 12 May.
With this plan, the European Union has set itself the very ambitious goal of reducing pollution to levels that are no longer harmful to health and the environment within the next five to ten years through a package of measures and interventions to revise existing directives that also cover pollution from plastics.
The aim is to improve water quality by reducing waste, marine litter (-50%) and the release of microplastics into the environment (-30%). Other objectives are to cut the production of municipal waste and residues by 50%, to improve air quality to reduce premature deaths from pollution, to reduce pesticide use by 50% and to achieve a lower level of transport noise.
A hierarchy has also been defined in order to reach the "zero pollution" objective: prevent (through eco-design, production, distribution and end-of-life management), minimise pollution (when the first option is not possible) and, finally, remedy and compensate for damage, when pollution is already taking place.
Source: Polimerica