Posts by George Kiernan

EU Green Claims Directive The Changing Markets Foundation (CMF) has hailed the forthcoming EU green claims directive as the end of the era of greenwashing. The directive, which is expected to be published this month, will require companies to substantiate their green claims using primary data that is company-specific. The CMF released a timeline of…

Plastic Waste The problem of plastic waste continues to be a growing concern in Europe, where 29 million tonnes of it are produced every year. Only 32% of this material is recycled, with over 40% of it being incinerated to produce energy. Most shockingly, over 25%, or over 7 million tonnes, of this plastic waste…

Export Of Plastic Waste On Monday 16th January, Members of European Parliament (MEPs) voted to support a ban on the export of plastic waste from EU countries. The waste export ban passed the vote with an overwhelming majority of 594 votes in favour, with just 5 against and 43 abstentions. The text that currently forms…

The European Commission announced it intends to take legal action against 11 EU Member States for failure to communicate their strategies for full implementation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive. The purpose of this Directive is to minimise the impact of single-use plastics on both human health and the environment. However, the following states have failed…

Plastic In Landfill In February, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report entitled ‘Global Plastics Outlook’. This report found that out of all the hundreds of millions of tonnes of plastic waste produced worldwide every year, just 9% of this material is successfully recycled. The majority of these materials end up…

Supermarket giant Cora has launched the pilot for their Green Group smart recycling station project in their Pantelimon store in Bucharest. This is a waste recovery solution they have undertaken in partnership with FEPRA, a packaging waste recovery company, and Envipco, who make bespoke Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) solutions, as well as the Romanian Ministry…

Plastic Pollution Over the last several decades the rate at which we produce and consume plastic has increased dramatically, and so too has the problem of plastic pollution. Over 380 million tons of plastic is produced every year and reports suggest that in excess of 50% of it is for single-use products and purposes. Estimates…