Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2021-06-18 Origin: Site
On May 31, 2021, the European Commission published a guidance document-the final version of the "Guide to Disposable Plastic Products" to implement EU Directive 2019/904 (SUP Directive) on disposable products. It will take effect on July 3, 2021.
Brief description of content:
1. All oxidatively degradable plastics are prohibited, regardless of whether the oxidatively degradable plastics are biodegradable or non-biodegradable.
2. The definition of plastics has been re-adjusted to include polymer-based plastic products, bio-based plastics and biodegradable plastics. Biodegradable plastics are also classified as plastics because they contain additives.
3. In 2022, biodegradable plastics will be re-evaluated and standards formulated. The SUP guidelines will be revised in 2027 to evaluate the standards applicable to marine biodegradable plastics.
4. Strengthen recycling, the design and intention of the product must be able to be used multiple times.
A material composed of polymers as defined in Article 3 (5) of Regulation (EC) No. 1907/20063, to which additives or other substances may be added, and can be used as the main structural component of the final product, but without chemical Except for modified natural polymers.
In particular, with regard to the controversial point in the definition, in addition to natural polymers that have not been chemically modified, the document stipulates: plastics made of modified natural polymers, or made of bio-based, fossil-based or synthetic starting materials Plastic is not naturally occurring, so it should be handled by this SUP guide.
Therefore, the adjusted definition of plastics should include polymer-based plastic products as well as bio-based and biodegradable plastics, whether they are derived from biomass or biodegradable over time.
In short, the definition of plastic covered by the guidelines includes bio-based and biodegradable plastics, whether it is derived from biomass or biodegradable over time. In contrast, Italy’s transposition method opened the door to the use of bioplastics, that is, “reusable substitutes cannot be used to replace disposable plastic products listed in Annex B for food contact.”
On the other hand, unmodified natural polymers produced by natural polymerization processes (regardless of the extraction process) are not prohibited. In the example of the SUP guidelines, cellulose and wood or wet milled corn starch extracted from wood meet the definition of a natural polymer. In contrast, polymers produced through industrial fermentation processes, such as PHA, should not be considered natural polymers because polymerization does not occur in nature.
To be defined as a "non-chemically modified" polymer, the chemical structure must remain unchanged, even if it has undergone chemical processes or treatments, physical mineralogical transformations (such as removal of impurities), etc. Therefore, regenerated cellulose in the form of viscose, lyocell, and cellulose film is not considered a chemically modified polymer (because the polymer obtained is not chemically modified compared with the introduced polymer), while acetic acid Cellulose is chemically modified (because of the chemical modification of cellulose in the production process). Exceptionally, paper is allowed to be used if it does not have a plastic coating.
The SUP Directive stipulates that certain disposable plastic products are no longer placed on the EU market: cotton cleaning sticks, tableware, plates, tubes, trays, balloon sticks, and some expanded polystyrene products (cups and containers for food and beverages) and oxidative degradation plastic products.
