According to a Proposal1 issued on October 16, 2023, EU is now soliciting feedback on measures to prevent microplastic pollution from the unintentional release of plastic pellets. Feedback2 can be sent prior to December 19, 2023.
Purpose and Goal of the Proposal
Considering the hazard of microplastic pollution on the environment and human health, EU is working to reduce microplastic pollution from different sources. In align with the European Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan, etc., the present target is to reduce 30% of the microplastic release into the environment by 2030 as set out in the Zero Pollution Action Plan. An overview of EU’s policies and initiatives can be found at Brochure on EU action against microplastic pollution3. Key actions are summarized as below.
Table 1: EU’s measures to combat microplastic pollution
Sources of microplastic | Corresponding actions |
Plastic waste and litter (as they will degrade into microplastics) |
|
The use of intentionally added microplastics to products | REACH restriction proposal, involving products like cosmetics, detergents, fertilizers, etc. Read its impact on cosmetics at EU REACH to Restrict Intentionally-added Microplastics in Cosmetics. |
Accidental and unintentional microplastic releases | Proposed measures to reduce microplastic pollution from unintentional release of plastic pellets (The Proposal) |
As disclosed by the Brochure, every year in the EU, 0.7-1.8 million tonnes or up to 600 Olympic-size swimming pools of microplastics are estimated to be unintentionally released into the environment. Plastic pellet losses to the environment are the 3rd source of all unintentional microplastic releases following paints and tyres. Moreover, different from other sources like paints, textiles and tyres, plastic pellet losses are due to the lack of awareness and poor handling at any stage of the supply chain, from production, processing, transport to other logistic and waste management operations. Despite industry-led efforts, such as the voluntary Operation Clean Sweep® (OCS) certification scheme, current practices for handling pellets lead to losses at each stage in the supply chain. Therefore, it’s necessary to make corresponding measures to help prevent such pollution.
Measures Raised in the Proposal
The Proposal lays down the obligation for the handling of plastic pellets at all stages of the supply chain, applying to A) economic operators handling plastic pellets in the Union in quantities above 5 tonnes in the previous calendar year; and B) EU carriers and non-EU carriers transporting plastic pellets in the Union.
Key obligations are summarized as below.
General obligation
Article 3 sets the general obligations for all economic operators, EU carriers and non-EU carriers. Namely, these parties shall avoid the losses and take actions to clean-up the losses when this situation occurs. Moreover, these parties shall notify the competent authorities of the Member State of needed information. Such information will be unveiled on a public register established and maintained by the competent authority.
Requirements on risk assessment plan and self-declaration of conformity
When dealing with the plastic pellets, economic operators shall establish a risk assessment plan for each installation* (as per Annex I of this Proposal), implement the risk assessment plan and notify this risk assessment plan to the competent authority of the Member State where the installation is located. During the notifying step, the economic operator shall also prepare a self-declaration of conformity as per Annex II of this Proposal. The competent authority is eligible to ask the economic operator to A) change the risk assessment plan if the plan cannot effectively prevent the loss, etc.; B) implement corresponding actions as listed in Annex I.
[*Notes: as per the proposal, installation means any premises, structure, environment or place where economic activities involving the handling of plastic pellets are carried out.]
For EU carriers and non-EU carriers, they shall Implement actions in Annex III during loading, unloading, transport, cleaning, and maintenance. In addition, the proposal also raises requirement on training staff, keeping relevant record, conducting internal assessment, etc.
Mandatory certification (for enterprises operating installations handling plastic pellets higher than 1,000 tonnes per year)
For installation dealing with more than 1,000 tonnes of plastic pellets per year, economic operator shall obtain a certificate issued by a certifier to demonstrate the compliance with Annex I. Notably, the timeline for large-sized enterprises and medium-sized enterprises are separately stipulated in Article 5. Article 6 sets provisions on situations when economic operators can be exempted from the certification.
The certifier shall carry out spot-checks to verify the implementation status of the risk assessment plan and then notify the competent authority about the certification result. The competent authority will be responsible to establish and maintain the public register of certificates. The format of certificate is provided in Annex IV.
Other measures
Except the requirements aforementioned, some other measures are also worth attention.
✔ Following risk-based approach, the compliance of all involved parties will be verified by the competent authorities through environmental inspections and other verification measures.
✔ As involved parties are asked to keep records of annually estimated loss quantities and the total volume of plastic pellets handled, a methodology to estimate loss quantities will be developed later.
✔ Penalties will include fines proportionate to the turnover of the legal person or to the income of the natural person having committed the infringement.
Lighter Requirements on Certain Enterprises
To mitigate the impact of the regulation on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, installations handling less than 5 tonnes of plastic pellets per year are not within the application scope of this Proposal. For involved parties, especially micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, they can get access to assistance which may be in the form of: financial support, access to finance, specialized management and staff training, or organizational and technical assistance.
Besides, for small enterprises and enterprises operating installations handling plastic pellets below 1,000 tonnes per year, there is:
No obligation of carrying out internal assessment;
No obligation of certification but of self-declaration of conformity;
No obligation of reviewing compliance assessments at formal management meetings;
No obligation of establishing an awareness and training programme;
No obligation of settling the procedures for informing drivers, suppliers and subcontractors about the relevant procedures to prevent, contain and clean up spills and losses.
Details can be found at Questions and Answers on Measures to reduce microplastic pollution from plastic pellets4.
For medium-sized enterprises that operate installations handling plastic pellets exceeding 1,000 tonnes per year, they will have a longer transitional period for their initial certification compared to large enterprises. Instead of the 24 months for large enterprises, the transitional period for medium-sized enterprises will be extended to 36 months. Furthermore, the validity of their certification will also be longer, lasting for four years instead of the three years for large enterprises.
At last, in accordance with Article 6, economic operators registered under the Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) are exempted from the requirement of obtaining a certificate and notifying the renewals of the risk assessment plan and the self-declaration of conformity, as stipulated by this Proposal.
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