Speaking to the Lusa agency, the Minister of Environment and Climate Action, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, stated that it is intended to end single-use plastic from the design of packaging, declaring that “it is irrational to manufacture single-use goods with an indestructible material“.
João Pedro Matos Fernandes stressed that “it is not a pact against plastics, but thinking about the future of plastics, so that they are not for single use” and that one thinks about favouring recycling.
“The most common 33-centiliter water bottle has three types of plastic: one for the body of the bottle, one for the label and one for the cap”, he said, arguing that rationing the use of the material begins with “who designs, produces and distributes”.
It is necessary to “design all products to always be reusable and, at the least, recyclable”, he defended, referring that Portugal has its own national pact for plastics with similar objectives, an initiative signed this year and supported by the government to which they joined 50 partners, including municipalities, companies and universities.
The goals for 2025 contemplated in the pact, an initiative launched by the Ellen Macarthur foundation, include reducing the production of virgin plastic by at least 20 percent, an increase of 25 percentage points in the recycling capacity of all packaging and single-use plastics, including at least minus 30 percent recycled plastic in disposable packaging.
This European pact is the first of its kind at the regional level and includes 16 Union countries and more than 70 large companies.
On 6 March, Parliament rejected with votes against by the PS, CDS, Liberal Initiative and abstention from the PSD four bills to restrict the use of plastic in packaging.
In the four bills, PCP, Bloco de Esquerda, Verdes and PAN proposed to ban superfluous plastic in the primary, secondary and tertiary packaging of products, arguing with the production of less plastic waste and the protection of consumers who end up paying for packaging that they didn’t ask for and they don’t need it.
PS and PSD claimed to be in accordance with the principle of reducing plastic material in packaging and increasing recycling rates, but considered that the proposals of the four parties would create market distortions and disadvantages for Portuguese companies in the packaging sector.
PCP, Verdes, Bloco, PAN, Chega and non-registered deputy Joacine Moreira voted in favour of the four bills.