Since day one, retailers and consumers have favoured plastic carrier bags. However, owing to the numerous environmental disadvantages, lightweight plastic carrier bags have been drawing the attention of the European Union competent authorities. Therefore, many European Union member states have taken action so as to reduce the use of plastic carrier bags. Based on the existing legislation and voluntary initiatives for the reduction of lightweight plastic carrier bags, the challenges and achieved outcomes from the implemented policy options in the various European Union member states are discussed and commented regarding the forthcoming transposition of the 'Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste to reduce the consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags' into the European Union member states' national law.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0734242X15577858DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

plastic carrier
24
carrier bags
20
european union
16
lightweight plastic
12
union member
12
member states
8
plastic
6
carrier
6
bags
5
existing situation
4

Similar Publications

The community dynamic alterations mechanisms of traveling plastics in the Pearl River estuary with the salinity influence.

Water Res

December 2024

College of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address:

Most ocean plastics originate from terrestrial emissions, and the plastisphere on the plastics would alter during the traveling due to the significant differences in biological communities between freshwater and marine ecosystems. Microorganisms are influenced by the increasing salinity during traveling. To understand the contribution of plastic on the alteration in biological communities of plastisphere during traveling, this study investigated the alterations in microbial communities on plastics during the migration from freshwater to brackish water and saltwater.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Microplastics (MPs) in nature inevitably undergo various aging processes and may exhibit varied interfacial interactions with the coexisted contaminants. Here several discarded disposable polyethylene and polypropylene plastic packaging materials were collected and employed as the raw materials of MPs, and the effects of stimulated UV irradiation and microbial colonization on the variations of surface physicochemical characteristics, including biofilm content, oxygen-containing functional groups, oxygen/carbon ratio, hydrophilicity and surface charge properties were explored. Simultaneously, the adsorption behavior of each MPs on the representative cationic dye crystal violet (CV), as well as the influences of salinity and pH of CV solution, was investigated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Microtia profoundly affects patients' appearance and psychological well-being. Tissue engineering ear cartilage scaffolds have emerged as the most promising solution for ear reconstruction. However, constructing tissue engineering ear cartilage scaffolds requires multiple passaging of chondrocytes, resulting in their dedifferentiation and loss of their special phenotypes and functions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how somatic mitochondrial DNA mutations influence the development of leukemia, specifically through experiments with hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) from genetically modified mice.
  • Researchers found that recipients of heterozygous mtDNA mutator HPCs had a higher spontaneous leukemia incidence, while homozygous mtDNA mutator HPCs had a lower incidence when combined with NMyc overexpression.
  • Both types of HPCs exhibited mitochondrial function impairments, but only heterozygous HPCs adapted to the metabolic demands of NMyc overexpression, as demonstrated by altered glucose utilization linked to metabolic changes in homozygous HPCs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic osteomyelitis of the maxillofacial bones (i.e., jaw bones) is a persistent infection that requires effective treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!