UPDATE 19 Dec 2018: Petition closed with over 363,000 signatures. EU plastics law agreed this week is weaker than what the European Parliament supports, and what the plastic pollution crisis requires -- but it's a leap forward. Corporations will be made to pay for their pollution -- and that's thanks to public pressure!

Multinationals tried to stop the EU getting tough on their #PlasticPollution. But EU negotiators last night agreed a text that will finally make corporations pay. More to do next year, but certainly worth celebrating today! More info: https://t.co/H8LAXzwPUS pic.twitter.com/ku2emzyHdU — SumOfUs (@SumOfUs) December 19, 2018

The EU could have the world’s most powerful law against single-use plastic by Christmas.

Corporations like Philip Morris, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé could finally be forced to pay for their plastic pollution. But big business lobbyists have been pouring poison into the ears of EU governments for months, to litter the new law with voluntary measures, delays, and loopholes.

We are drowning in plastic. And it won’t stop until the corporations that make throwaway plastic products and packaging are forced to pay for it.

Now, more than ever, EU governments need to hear us say we want them to ensure that plastic polluters are held accountable for the harm that they cause.

Tell EU governments to support a strong law, and ensure that producers pay for their plastic pollution!

Thanks to public pressure, the European Parliament voted in October to support and even strengthen the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive proposed by the Commission in May.

Now representatives from the European Commission, and European Parliament, are negotiating with Europe's national governments on the final text of the law.

The struggle against polluting plastics is the struggle against runaway climate change too. The International Energy Agency warned in a report recently, that the single most important driver of global oil demand growth in the next 10 to 15 years is petrochemicals -- which is what 99% of plastics are made from.



EU governments need to ensure that any changes they make to the law now are legitimate improvements, and not compromises for corporations. People with mobility-related impairments or neurological conditions, for example, rely on plastic straws because of their flexible and temperature-resilient qualities. So it’s only right that EU lawmakers take extra care on legislating for plastic straws in consultation with relevant experts. But if the law lets governments make voluntary agreements with industry instead of regulating them properly -- that would be a massive failure.















More information

European Parliament takes historic stand against single-use plastic pollution

Rethink Plastic Alliance. 24 October 2018. Rethink Plastic Alliance. 24 October 2018.

Rising use of plastics to drive oil demand to 2050: IEA

Reuters. 5 October 2018. Reuters. 5 October 2018.