📋 Tender Overview
For the first time, the European Commission is proposing measures to reduce microplastic pollution from plastic pellets.
Plastic pellets are one of the biggest sources of unintentional microplastic pollution. They are the raw material used in the manufacture of almost all plastics. The Commission estimates that between 52 000 and 184 000 tonnes of pellets leak or disappear into the environment each year. The main reason for emissions is incorrect handling of pellets in the supply chain, such as during manufacturing or transport.
The Commission published the proposal on 16 October. The proposal aims to ensure that all operators handling pellets in the EU take the necessary precautionary measures. This is expected to reduce pellet emissions by up to 74% and harm to human health and nature. Joint EU-wide measures also contribute to a level playing field for operators.
The Commission proposes that operators handling pellets must, as a first resort, prevent the release of pellets into the environment, secondarily isolate spilled pellets to ensure that they do not pollute the environment and, as a last resort, clean up the environment after a leak or loss.
The Commission proposes, inter alia, the following actions:
Operators must follow certain best treatment practices
mandatory certification, i.e. larger operators should receive a certificate of compliance issued by an independent third party and smaller companies should provide their own declaration
a harmonised method for estimating pellet losses
Lighter requirements would be imposed on small and medium-sized enterprises.
In Finland, observations have been made of pellet granules accumulated in the environment, usually on the shores of the sea, but there is no research data or estimates on the prevalence of pellets in the Finnish sea area. The Finnish Environment Institute's PELLETTIMERI project maps the occurrence of plastic pellets and identifies their transport routes and sources.
