The European Union and plastics

This chapter probes the European Union’s (EU) regulatory response to the plastics problem. Since plastics are not comprehensively covered under EU law, this chapter maps out how various relevant EU policy strategies and sectoral measures together regulate the problem. The analysis of this legal and policy landscape is threefold. First, the chapter analyses the EU circular economy policies, and how implementing these through existing, highly technical, and hence potentially confusing EU waste and chemicals law results in an unclear and potentially unequal legal landscape. Second, the chapter examines how EU law aims to curb plastic production and consumption through EU law on product design, and EU-wide prohibitions on the use of certain plastic products. In this regard, an ecodesign scheme aims to fashion products with lower environmental impact, contributing to the EU’s policy objectives on the circular economy, while the Single-Use Plastics Directive and plastic bag amendments aim to limit plastic production and consumption altogether. The third part of the chapter discusses the separate restrictions for intentionally added microplastics under the EU’s acclaimed chemicals regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). The chapter concludes with a critical assessment of these actions, noting that regulatory advances are undermined by a failure to see the plastic problem as a form of diffuse pollution which is caused by overconsumption. Despite some recent achievements in addressing diffuse pollution, including unintentional microplastic diffusion, the EU’s response to the problem of plastic pollution remains insufficient.