Some scientists recently made a call on Science for the creation of a global treaty to stop the production of virgin plastic by 2040. Moreover, the solicitation regards the incentivisation of a circular economy based on reuse and the adoption of global cleaning measures for the removal of plastic pollution as well.
In the last five years more than 60 countries have introduced restrictions or taxation on single-use plastic products. In this framework there is the European Directive on Single-Use Plastics, whose due date for the transposition by the Member States was on the 3rd of July.
Nevertheless, the Italian government has not promulgated any decree yet for the transposition of the directive in Italy, determining a climate of uncertainty, both at the juridic and economic level. Furthermore, there is the risk that an infraction procedure will be brought for the missed transposition by the set due date.
The Italian firms could be considerably impacted by the implementation of such measures, especially due to the lack of a supporting transition policy in the past years.
Italy is a country with an enormous naturalist heritage and important economic sectors that depend on marine ecosystems, such as the fishing sector in addition to the tourist one. One night aboard a fishing boat is enough to understand how serious the problem is and that there is the necessity to tackle it promptly.
Sources: The Guardian, Call for global treaty to end production of ‘virgin’ plastic by 2040
ANSA, Appello scienziati, al bando plastica vergine dal 2040
Ricicla News, Plastica monouso fuorilegge in Ue, ma in Italia manca il decreto