The text introduces new rules to hold handling and transport firms accountable for spills of the lentil-sized pellets, called nurdles, which are used in everything from car bumpers to salad bowls. With no amendments or motions to reject submitted, the proposal was approved without a vote after being backed by a wide majority in the parliament’s environment committee earlier this week.
Unintentional releases
Made from fossil fuels, plastic pellets are delivered by ships or trucks to plastics manufacturers to be transformed into various objects or components.
According to European Commission data, up to 180,000 tonnes of pellets per year — the equivalent of 20 truckloads each day — are dispersed into nature across the 27-nation bloc due to mishandling, polluting beaches and oceans.
Nurdles contribute extensively to marine pollution due to their small size, buoyancy, and resistance to natural degradation.
Land and maritime freight companies
According to the new “regulation on preventing plastic pellet losses to reduce microplastic pollution,” transport companies will have to ensure that losses are avoided. Where losses occur, they are required to act quickly to report and contain pellet leaks and handle the clean-up if necessary. And they will have to provide an estimate, within 30 days, of the amount of microplastics spilled into the environment.
"These rules mean they can no longer say, ’It wasn’t me," said the socialist lawmaker Cesar Luena, who shepherded the legislation through the parliament. "We are holding them responsible — it is up to them to alert the authorities."
Land freight companies will have two years to comply, with three years for maritime freight — which faces specific new obligations despite a push from some EU countries for it to be excluded from the legislation.
The rules will require freight companies to ensuring packaging of sufficient quality, and to clearly label cargo as containing microplastics.
The rules will apply to all companies transporting more than five tonnes of microplastics per year within the EU — whether or not the firms themselves are European.
Internal assessments
Furthermore, all firms involved in the manufacture, transport or transformation of pellets will have to carry out risk assessments to prevent spills — and clean up if they occur.
Entities producing or transporting more than 1,500 tons of microplastics per year will be required to obtain certification from an independent body within five years of the regulation’s entry into force.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) managing fewer than 1,500 tonnes per year per installation will face only reduced obligations.
The European commission expects that this text will lead to a 54 per cent to 74 per cent decrease in pellet losses to the environment. The new regulation goes in line with the commission’s overall microplastic reduction target of 30 per cent by 2030.
