Directive (EU) 2019/904 targets the ten single-use plastic items most often found on European beaches. It has applied since July 2021.
It bans plastic cutlery, plates, straws, stirrers, cotton-bud sticks, expanded polystyrene food and drink containers and oxo-degradable plastics (plastics with additives that make them break into tiny fragments or break down chemically as they oxidise). Caps must stay attached to bottles from 3 July 2024. PET bottles must contain at least 25% recycled plastic from 2025 and 30% from 2030. Member states must separately collect 77% of plastic bottles by 2025 and 90% by 2029. Producers of tobacco filters, wet wipes, balloons and fishing gear must pay towards clean-up under extended producer responsibility.
The directive matters because it is the most comprehensive single-use plastics law in force anywhere and the template that other jurisdictions have copied.
The Commission is required to evaluate the directive's effectiveness by July 2027; until then, evidence on outcomes is limited to member-state reporting and litter surveys. Enforcement and results vary widely between countries.