Campaigners register plans with Europe for reverse vending machines for plastic bottles

The Commission said it decided to register a European Citizens' Initiative entitled ‘ReturnthePlastics: A Citizen's Initiative to implement an EU-wide deposit-system to recycle plastic bottles', because it met conditions necessary for acceptance.

The European Citizens' Initiative is part of the Lisbon Treaty to put policy in the hands of citizens if a good enough case is made. Officially launched in April 2012, it has received 107 requests in the years since, with 82 being successfully registered.

It means that if the organisers of the petition can get one million signatures from at least seven countries in the EU, the Commission will be compelled to act upon it.

If the one million mark is passed, the Commission can decide either to take the request forward or not, and will be required to explain its reasoning.

Organisers say the objectives of the #ReturnthePlastics initiative are to implement an EU-wide deposit-system to recycle plastic bottles, as well as to incentivise all EU member states to ensure that supermarkets selling plastic bottles install reverse vending machines for recycling the plastic bottles after purchase.

The petition also asks that the plastic bottle-producing companies pay plastic taxes for the recycling and deposit-system of the plastic bottles, under the principle that the polluter should pay.

Eurostat has said that Ireland has the highest plastic waste generation at 54 kilos per capita, far higher than the EU average of 33 kilos.

The #Returntheplastics organisers said: "When plastics are not recycled or collected, they can end up in landfills or waterways. 

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, for example, is an island of floating plastic in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii. With 80,000 tons of plastic, it is currently three times the size of France and accumulating rapidly. 

"When the tidal waves break the plastics into smaller pieces over time, animals like fish eat it, which is how microplastics end up on our plates."

Scientific studies estimate that any person ingests, on average, five grams worth of microplastics a week, or the same as a credit card, through food consumption, the organisers said.

The reverse vending machine would see the consumer returning the plastic bottle to a supermarket, and receiving 15c for each, which can then be spent again in the supermarket.

The organisers of the petition cited startling figures of how many plastic bottles are bought every day.

"The EU Directive on single-use plastics entered into force, which bans the 10 most common single-use plastic items (such as plates, cutlery, straws) in all EU member states, through a law approved by the European Parliament. 

"However, plastic bottles which are among the most commonly used plastic products (it is estimated that globally 1 million bottles a minute are bought) and take up to 500 years to decompose, are not included in the single-use plastics ban."