Sauce sachets and hotel shampoos face ban in new EU green drive

SACHETS of sauce and small bottles of shampoo will be banned from European restaurants and hotels after a deal to ban single-use plastics in the EU.

Belgium, negotiating on behalf of EU member states, reached provisional agreement with the European Parliament on the law to cut packaging waste late on Monday.

Negotiators agreed on packaging waste reduction targets of 5 per cent by 2030, and 15 per cent by 2040, with a commitment that all packaging should be recyclable by 2030.

They also agreed that empty space should make up no more than half of packaged goods, a move intended to stop the use of oversized boxes for online deliveries.

From Jan 1 2030, mini shampoo bottles will not be allowed in hotels and plastic shrink-wrap around suitcases in airports will be outlawed.

Restaurants will be banned from offering sauces such as ketchup and mayonnaise in plastic sachets, unless they are takeaways. The ban will also apply to single-use plastic items such as disposable plates, cups and boxes used by fast-food restaurants, and lightweight bags, including those offered in markets for groceries.

There will also be a ban on “forever chemicals” (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFASS) in food contact packaging.

The deal comes after the European Commission called for a revamp of packaging rules in 2022. Packaging waste has grown by more than 20 per cent in the EU in the past decade and each European generates almost 419lb of packaging waste per year. The targets will not apply to very small businesses.

But the agreement still needs approval from the European Parliament and EU governments, and that is not guaranteed as EU green rules come under increasing pressure from Rightwing parties.

Conservatives have argued that they are too burdensome during the cost of living crisis.

A UK ban on single-use plastics came into force in October. It prohibited, among other things, single-use plastic cutlery, polystyrene cups and food containers in England. The EU ban goes further and covers more items.

The European legislation will apply in Northern Ireland, which continues to follow more than 300 EU rules as part of post-brexit trading arrangements, unless a majority in Stormont attempts to block it.

“The UK does have some single-use plastic bans in place but overall progress is slower than the EU,” said Paula Chin, senior policy advisor at WWF UK.

“We want to see more ambitious legislation to drive greater waste prevention through eco-design and enabling reuse and refill systems for many packaged products.”

‘The UK does have some single-use plastic bans in place but overall progress is slower than the EU’