Biosphere Plastic has been working with the European Union for their “green paper” which was released in April of 2013. In recent news the European Union has blocked the Italian government from releasing a ban on packaging and bags which are not compostable. The Bill which was approved by the Italian Government was halted by the European Union. What this means is that even products which are not EN 13432 certified are allowed to be used in the country once again. This is a big change for all the compostable plastic manufacturers in the marketplace.
The European Spokesperson commented that the packaging law in Italy was “The proposed Italian scheme was illegal under EU packaging laws“. Agencies like the Italian Bioplastic association are furious over the results as they were trying to push their agenda on the entire European Union. The Eurozone was not having it and Britain did not agree with the proposal of making all bags compostable would actually help the environment. Italian composting association and the Bioplastic association of Italy are claiming that the PLA based products are marine degradable. The Italian Environmental Minster states
“The bags are a serious problem, above all at sea, and it is astounding that Britain, which is serious about the environment and has a seafaring tradition going back centuries, does not want to defend the seas from plastic pollution which suffocates and kills many marine animals,”
The compostable bags do not degrade in the marine environment and this was a move on lobbying organizations to force a major swing in legislation within the European Union. The ripple effect of this ground breaking event leaves acceptance to all technologies within the biodegradable industry including corn based resins, additives and regular synthetic plastic.
According to the European Environmental Ministry all plastics are allowed within Italy and they can only tax regular synthetic plastic as Ireland does. They can’t force companies to use compostable bags, packaging and the like to a standard the EN 13432 which is for composting not marine degradable.
Will the US Government follow the European Union and stop California from enacting the same laws?
