156,499 of 175,000 signatures

Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius and Member State Environment Ministers

Petition

Please answer the public’s demand to move away from single-use plastics and end plastic pollution. To do so, the European Commission must uphold the ambitition of the EU law on single-use plastics, and make sure that its guidelines do not open the door to exemptions and substitutions that would water down its impact.

Why is this important?

By now we know that plastic is everywhere. It's not just in our drinking water and oceans. It has made its way into our fruits and vegetables too. [1, 2]

This is why we fought to ban single-use plastics, which are so harmful to our planet and our health. And we won with the adoption of the EU single-use plastics Directive. But the plastics industry is working hard to undo that win by intervening in the final stages of the law implementation.

The way they’re doing that is pretty sneaky. They’ve used technical discussions on the wording of the implementation guidelines, so that items like single-use packets of crisps can be considered reusable, and bans on single-use plastics straws and cutlery could be rendered completely ineffective. [3] This would effectively cancel our win.

But we have a powerful decision maker on our side. Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and champion of this law, Frans Timmermans, promised to be our ally. [4] It's time to remind him of that promise so that once more he can face down the plastics industry, who right now are hard at work behind the scenes.

References:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/08/20/636845604/beer-drinking-water-and-fish-tiny-plastic-is-everywhere?t=1597226680821
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341513246_Micro-_and_nano-plastics_in_edible_fruit_and_vegetables_The_first_diet_risks_assessment_for_the_general_population; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-020-0707-4
https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/2020/07/30/draft-guideline-sup/
https://twitter.com/TimmermansEU/status/912621524959547392

In partnership with:

Return to petition

If you are a human, ignore this field

Form to sign petition

You're signing this as Not you? Click here

It seems you have already signed. However, you can do more. Click below for next step.

First name:

Last name:

Your email:

Country:

Postcode:

Your comments:

Skip this step

By clicking “Sign” you are supporting this campaign, and agreeing to WeMove Europe using your information for the purpose of this campaign. We might hand over your name, surname and country to the petition target. Unless you subscribe to receive personalised updates, we will delete your data after the campaign has ended. We will never share your data with any third parties without your permission. See our full privacy policy here.

156,499

of 175,000 signatures

Recent comments

Monique

We have to react otherwise the governments will continue to follow the easiest way and don’t change anything

Alysha

Too much waste

Ann

Production uses materials and energy, and it ends up as waste or litter. How absurd. Let producers and consumers of waste pay heavily.. plastics for sure, but als other waste. Like McDonalds or Amazon.. Lessons can be taken from the past..

Kay

Protect our environment from microplastics and reduce need for land fills.

Emer

To protect the environment particularly the seas and oceans

P

Ban plastic

Anjali

This is the biggest disaster we've ever faced and almost 80-90% of people in india are still not aware of anything which is happening around the world. This is the biggest crisis which we have ever faced. Millions and billions of people are dieing but the governments are joking about the climate. I believe that every person in the world should know about the current situation of our home, because this is our last chance to do the right thing. Either we live and survive together till the last or we die in vain seperate and alone doing all the wrong things we should have stopped ourselves from doing.

Zayra

Noc, m dijeron k lo haga

Ana

Por que quiero ayudar al planeta

Sophia

There is no need for Single use plastic any more there many better alternatives we need to change now not In future

Rhapsody

Any plastic I have to use I feel guilty… single use? I can’t imagine how much plastic that is in the whole world and to be honest it makes me feel distressed just thinking about it. Not only will it be cheaper and more effective if we change this but also better for everyone and the future to come!

Kirsty

Please act - this is a crisis of waste

Marianne

There is no planet B so please keep it plastic free!

Jane Lúcia Weber

Change has to come from industry; our governments are responsible to make it happen

Jay

It's hurting our planet.

P.J.

Why would you want to continue with something that you KNOW is bad for us all. STOP!

Mirela

Plastici is poisen

Azul98

Stop Plastic Waste!

Lola Sophia

to protect waters, because plastic tends to concentrate toxic substances

Janina

Plastic causes diseases, pollutes the oceans, gets into the organism as microplastic, and kills animals! This must stop.

Julia

Plastic waste is the cause for serious longterm pollution of the planet and I think, it needs to stop.

Tom

Please Ban single use plastic. Please hear out 101 advocates from around the World and Dr. Good all & Youths as Greta & Malala & Myself by steering away from fossil fuels and plastic. Please.

Susan

I wrote an answer but I don’t think it was sent: so again. The US will hopefully be influenced by the positive actions taken in the EU. As western affluent nations, we are responsible for most of the plastics pollution including the huge floating islands in the world’s oceans. We even export huge amounts of plastic pollution to other countries to dispose of. This is irresponsible and despicable. We need to band together and start taking responsibility for our huge share of plastic pollution. Thanks for sharing this petition.

Mark

All governments should be pushing forward and stopping plastic being produced, full stop. There are other materials that can replace the plastic industries and this needs to happen NOW!!

Virginia

Thanks

Thanks for signing! Your signature has been added.

Please can you chip in?

To stay independent, we are very careful about who we accept money from - but impactful campaigns need funding, so we need your help!

Can you donate just a few euros a month to help our community continue working to protect our planet?

*Note: to make a one off donation, untick "Become a sustaining, monthly contributor"

Other ways of giving

You can transfer your donation to our bank account

Please include your email address as payment reference

WeMove Europe SCE mbH
IBAN: DE98 4306 0967 1177 7069 00
BIC: GENODEM1GLS, GLS Bank
Berlin, Germany

We want to be transparent and accountable about how we spend your donations - for more information please see our Donation Policy.

Your personal information will be kept private and held securely. By submitting information you are agreeing to WeMove Europe keeping you informed about campaigns and agree to the use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy.

Skip this step

Next step - spread the word

Skip this step

Thank you for standing up for our planet. It is only together that we can truly fight to ensure the EU puts the planet before profits.

Petition

Why is this important?

References:

In partnership with:

Please can you chip in?

Other ways of giving

Can you spread the word?

Act now: single-use plastics ban under threat

Next step - spread the word

Act now: single-use plastics ban under threat