Covid has little to do with it, indeed it leads to wrong behavior. Thinking that using plates, glasses and disposable crockery protects us from the contagion of the virus is not a good thing. It depends on who handles those products, if you are in a public place, in front of an asymptomatic person, in a house with strangers, etc. TO Legambiente they are concerned about this phenomenon for which the President Stefano Ciafani says "in six months on the disposable use front we have gone back culturally by 10 years".
The plastic problem is in the foreground these days, not only with the growth of Covid infections, but also because the EU Court of Auditors released his analysis on recycling. A complex issue from a social point of view, but also from an industrial and strategic point of view. The pandemic shows that plastic will continue to be a mainstay of our economies, but also an increasingly serious environmental threat, the Luxembourg judges said.
The warning falls in the middle of the discussion on the European green deal and on the allocation of funds from the Recovery Fund. Meanwhile, there are 9 months left (July 2021) for the transposition into national legislation of the European legislation on disposable plastic. But the judges say, the goals of all countries for recycling will not be achieved "unless countries reverse course by increasing recovery rates". The targets are high: 50% recycling of packaging by 2025 and 55% by 2030. Environmentalists are more optimistic provided, however, that EU directives are applied. Italy, which according to the Minister of the Environment Sergio Costa is "doing a great job" to ban glasses and more, can lengthen the pace. He has the issue of recycling before him. Costa could make Samo Jereb, a member of the Court of Auditors, change his mind, asking to reverse the current situation “in which the quantities incinerated are greater than those recycled”. The Minister would do so, at least for Italy.
The time available for everyone is not much: 5-10 years maximum. However, food jars and water bottles are still 40% of the plastic in circulation and over 60% of waste across Europe. In their analysis, the judges did not overlook leading sectors of the continental economy such as the automotive, electronics, agriculture which produce a total of 22% of plastic waste. However, it should be remembered that with respect to the entire supply chain, new taxes for everyone are not excluded in order to achieve the objectives for 2030. In Italy, Minister Gualtieri has rejected the idea of double taxation. As a widely consumed industrial product, plastic will certainly not disappear. In Europe invoice 400 billion euros and employs 1,5 million people. The real match is between disposable and compostable products. To protect those who produce and those who consume.
