Germany bans the sale of single use plastics. A large range of single-use plastics that comes from straws, cotton buds, food containers and more will be included.
The European Union directive wants to reduce the plastic that plagues our environment. Now, Germany is following suit.
Last month, The Cabinet were in agreement to end the sale of plastics. The list includes single-use cutlery, plates, stirring sticks, balloon holders, polystyrene cups, and boxes. The ban is to come into full effect by July 3, 2021.
AP reported that the German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said that this move was to counter the “throw-away culture.” Research suggests that up to 20% of garbage collected in parks and public spaces was polystyrene containers.
Why ban plastics straws in particular?
Plastic straws seem to get a lot of attention worldwide even though they only represent 8.1% of leading plastic waste. Likewise, they only represent 4% of the waste that ends up in our oceans.
The reason is because plastic straws are small in size. The size is small enough for people to forget that they are made of plastic and need to recycle them.
In fact, straws are often missed by the machinery that recycles them because of their small size and light weight. So, they end up in ordinary garbage and contaminate our oceans.
An average person uses about 1.6 plastic straws per day according to estimates. It follows that if people stop their usage or reduce their usage we can make a large impact on the environment. Hence, Germany bans plastics that have been causing catastrophic damage to our environment.
