07 May 2019

Food Contact News – April 2019

EUROPE

EU PARLIAMENT BANS CERTAIN SINGLE-USE PLASTICS
European Parliament agrees on measures to ban specific single-use plastics in EU by 2021, sets targets for bottle collection and recycled content, extends producer responsibility and labeling

In a press release published on March 27, 2019, the European Parliament (EP) announced their approval of a new Directive that will ban many single use plastic items in the EU by 2021. Specifically, the following products will no longer be permitted: single-use plastic cutlery (forks, knives, spoons and chopsticks), single-use plastic plates, plastic straws, cotton bud sticks made of plastic, plastic balloon sticks, oxodegradable plastics and food containers and expanded polystyrene cups.
Further, the legislation will require EU Member States “to achieve a 90% collection target for plastic bottles by 2029, and plastic bottles will have to contain at least 25% of recycled content by 2025 and 30% by 2030.” It also “strengthens the application of the polluter pays principle, in particular for tobacco, by introducing extended responsibility for producers” and sets “that labelling on the negative environmental impact of throwing cigarettes with plastic filters in the street should be mandatory, as well as for other products such as plastic cups, wet wipes and sanitary napkins.”

 

ASIA

THAILAND PROPOSES STANDARD FOR FCMS
Thailand notifies WTO of future mandatory standard for thermoset plastics derived from formaldehyde

In an article recently published by the Virtual-Strategy Magazine, the Thai Ministry of Industry notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of the introduction of a mandatory standard for food contact materials and articles made from thermoset plastics derived from formaldehyde.
The draft standard will cover the follow resins if adopted: Melamineformaldehyde (MF), Melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF), Ureaformaldehyde (UF).
Among other things, the draft covers overall migration (≤ 10 mg / dm²), specific migration of formaldehyde, specific migration of melamine and heavy metals.