The European Parliament adopted by 538 votes to 32, with 31 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing plastic pellet losses to reduce microplastic pollution.

The European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amends the proposal as follows:

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down obligations for the handling of plastic pellets at all stages of the supply chain to prevent losses, with the objective of achieving zero plastic pellet losses .

‘ Plastic pellet ’ means a small mass of preformed polymer-containing moulding material, regardless of its shape or form, including powders, cylinders, beads and flakes, to which additives might have been added, that is used as feedstock in plastic product manufacturing and plastic recycling operations. The definition of ‘ plastic pellet dust’ is introduced.

General obligations

Economic operators, EU carriers and non-EU carriers should ensure that losses are avoided. Members stated that where spills and losses occur, economic operators, EU carriers and non-EU carriers should take immediate action to contain and clean-up those spills and losses.

Economic operators and EU carriers should notify the competent authorities of the Member State in which they are established, of any significant change in their installations and activities related to handling and transport of plastic pellets, including of any closure of an existing installation, as applicable.

Economic operators should label all storage and transport containers containing plastic pellets in accordance with Annex IVb to this Regulation.

Obligations relating to the handling of plastic pellets

Economic operators that are small, medium and large-sized enterprises operating installations where plastic pellets in quantities below 1 000 tonnes have been handled in the previous calendar year or that are micro enterprises should notify an update of the risk assessment plan for each installation as well as a renewal of the self-declaration of conformity to the competent authority every 3 years from the last notification.

Economic operators that are small enterprises operating installations where plastic pellets in quantities above 1 000 tonnes have been handled in the previous calendar year should comply with the obligations, unless they hold a valid certificate issued in accordance with the Regulation.

Certification

By 60 months from the entry into force of this Regulation, economic operators that are small enterprises should demonstrate that each installation where plastic pellets in quantities above 1 000 tonnes have been handled in the previous calendar year is compliant with the requirements set out in Annex I, by obtaining a certificate issued by a certifier. That certificate should be valid for 5 years . Certifiers should carry out spot-checks and inspections of sites, means of transport and immediately surrounding areas to ensure that all measures included in the risk assessment plan carried out in accordance with Annex I are duly implemented.

Compliance and reporting

The Commission should draw up every three years, on the basis of the Member States' reports, a synthesis report on compliance and reporting, setting out the qualitative and quantitative information on the implementation of this Regulation contained in the Member States’ reports.

Incidents and accidents

In the event of a loss resulting from an incident or accident and having a significant impact on human health or the environment, economic operators, EU carriers and third country carriers should immediately: (a) inform the competent authority in whose territory the incident or accident occurred, as well as the competent authority of any territory likely to be affected, and indicate the estimated quantities of losses; (b) take measures to contain and clean up such losses, in an environmentally sound manner; (c) take all possible measures to minimise the impact on health or the environment and to prevent further incidents or accidents.

By 12 months from the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission should develop and fund awareness raising and training material, which may take the form of guides and courses, on the sound implementation of the obligations laid down in this Regulation.

Penalties

In the case of an infringement committed by a legal person, the maximum amount of fines should be at least 3% of the economic operator's annual turnover within the Union during the financial year preceding the decision imposing a fine. Projects financed by the revenue generated from penalties may contribute to promoting scientific work to study the impact of plastic pellets on human health and the environment, supporting research and development in the area of plastic pellet pollution, implementing awareness programmes, and financing training programmes specifically designed for micro and small enterprises.

Traceability

No later than 24 months after the entry into force of the Regulation, the Commission should publish a report on the possibility of introducing chemical traceability of plastic pellets.

PURPOSE: to prevent microplastic pollution from the unintentional release of plastic pellets.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: plastic pellets are the industrial raw material used for all plastic production. Current practices for handling pellets lead to losses at all supply chain stages, notably production (virgin or recycled), processing, transport and other logistics and waste management operations. Once in the environment, they are almost impossible to capture. Like all microplastics, plastic pellets that escape from industrial installations or during transport are easily transported through the air and by land surface waters and marine currents and can also be found in soil (including agricultural lands).

High volumes of pellets are produced and handled every year, both globally and in the EU (around 57 million tons in the EU in 2021). Estimates show that between 52 140 tonnes and 184 290 tonnes of pellets were lost to the environment in the EU in 2019. This is equivalent to between 2100 and 7300 trucks full of pellets per year.

Plastic pellet losses to the environment are the 3rd source of all unintentional microplastic releases. Preventing microplastic releases from these sources may require major substitutions or changes to product characteristics. In contrast, plastic pellet losses are due to a lack of awareness and poor handling and therefore can be abated by swift measures to prevent such avoidable pollution. This makes plastic pellets a primary candidate for policy intervention.

Moreover, pellets are known to be eaten by a range of marine and coastal species (e.g. sea turtles, seabirds and shellfish). Once ingested, they can cause physical harm or death. Like all microplastics, their potential to act as a carrier for adsorbed toxicants or pathogenic microorganisms is an integral part of the problem.

CONTENT: the Commission proposes this draft Regulation to reduce pellet losses to the environment and would lead to a 54% to 74% decrease compared to the baseline, equivalent to a 6% reduction in the total amount of unintentional microplastic releases. In line with the Commission’s 30% overall reduction target for microplastics released to the environment, it will help preserve ecosystems and biodiversity, decrease potential health impacts and benefit local economic activities. It also has the potential to improve information on the magnitude of pellet losses throughout the pellet supply chain.

More specifically, the proposal:

- applies to economic operators handling plastic pellets in the Union in quantities above 5 tonnes in the previous calendar year and to EU carriers and non-EU carriers transporting plastic pellets in the Union;

- requires economic operators and EU carriers to inform national competent authorities about their activities involving the handling of plastic pellets;

- requires all economic operators, EU carriers and non-EU carriers to comply with the requirements set out in this Regulation within 18 months of its entry into force and also requires them to perform action in the following priority order: prevention to avoid any spills of pellets from primary containment; containment of spilled pellets to make sure they do not become a loss to the environment, and, as a final option, clean up after a spill or loss event;

- seeks to mitigate impacts on SMEs by adding lighter requirements for their installations such as no obligation of third-party certification but self-declaration of conformity, as well as a longer validity of the self-declaration (five years); no obligation to review compliance assessments at formal management meetings; and no obligation to establish an awareness and training programme;

- requires that economic operators that are medium-sized enterprises running installations handling plastic pellets in quantities above 1000 tonnes per year , will also be subject to the following lighter requirement: certification with a longer transitional period than for large enterprises before first certification (36 months instead of 24) and a longer validity of the certificate (four years instead of three);

- empowers national authorities to impose on economic operators, EU carriers and non-EU carriers any appropriate follow-up measures in case of severe incidents and accidents;

- lays down measures on compensation aimed at securing that, where damage to health has occurred, fully or partially as a result of a violation of this Regulation, the public concerned is able to claim and obtain compensation for that damage;

- requires the Commission to request European standardisation organisations to establish a standard to estimate quantities of pellets lost to the environment.