The Spanish government has approved a bill designed to discourage the production and consumption of single-use plastics, including taxes on their production and disposal and a timetable for phasing out their use in the food and drink sector.
The bill proposes a €0.45/kg tax on single-use plastics in packaging to be charged to the manufacturer in line with EU guidelines, and a further tax on their incineration and disposal in landfill sites. It also forbids the sale or distribution of oxo-degradable plastics in products such as straws, cotton buds, plates and cutlery as well as all microplastic beads of less than 0.5 millimetres in diameter.
Spain is targeting a 50pc reduction in the distribution of plastic bottles and fast-food packaging from 2022 levels by 2026 and a 70pc cut by 2030, which it hopes to partly achieve by banning their free distribution and obliging vendors to charge separately for the items from 1 January 2023. Caps and lids for receptacles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) must contain 25pc of recycled material by 2030, rising to 30pc in 2050. And all hotels and restaurants must offer clients potable tap water as an alternative to bottled water.
Spain plans to invest €850mn of EU recovery funds on reducing single-use plastics in the period to 2035, and is expecting €2.5bn of private investment in creating and distributing reusable or biodegradable alternatives, according to government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero.
The government bill on waste and contaminated soil was agreed on by Spain's cabinet and sent to parliament for debate yesterday. Bills such as this usually take about five months to become law. Starting this year, EU member states are obligated to contribute €0.80/kg of non-recycled packaging waste to the EU budget as part of the bloc's attempts to incentivise increased recycling from plastic waste. But members countries can decide for themselves how to raise the funds to pay for their share.
