EU plans to levy plastic packaging tax in January 2021
September 18, 2020
The EU Special Summit, which concluded on July 21, approved the EU's 2021-2027 budget, which clearly stated that the "plastic packaging tax" would be imposed on January 1, 2021.
According to the announcement issued by the European Council on the same day, the EU will introduce new sources of income in order to "resource income and reduce expenditure" in response to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. One of them is to apply 0.8 per kilogram of disposable plastic packaging from January 1, 2021. The euro (about 6.4 yuan) is taxed at the tax rate.
After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic this year, as the EU plans to raise huge sums of money to restart the economy, the introduction of a "plastic packaging tax" has become more urgent. Previously, the media estimated that at a tax rate of 0.8 euros per kilogram, the EU could add 4 billion to 8 billion euros in tax revenue each year.
EU statistics show that the EU produces about 26 million tons of plastic waste each year, of which less than 30% is recycled. Most of the others are incinerated or dumped into landfills, and even more waste flows into rivers and oceans, causing serious pollution to the environment. For this reason, in 2018, the European Union recommended that member states ban plastic tableware (including straws, cutlery, etc.), cotton swabs, balloon brackets and other common plastic garbage on European beaches to curb increasing ocean plastic pollution.
