Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
SINGLE-USE PLASTICS, such as coffee cups, are to be banned in the EU by 2030, in a bid to fight pollution.
The strategy announced by the European Commission, the EU-executive, follows China’s decision to ban imports of foreign waste products for recycling, including huge quantities from Europe.
It outlined plans for all packaging in Europe to be recyclable by 2030.
“The commission aims to increase plastic recycling and for all plastic packaging to be reusable or recyclable by 2030,” the executive said.
Around 26 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated in Europe every year, according to the Commission. However, less than 30% of such waste is collected for recycling. 70% of plastic waste is put in landfills or incinerated.
The Commission said its proposals also aim to create business opportunities by transforming the way plastic products are designed, produced and recycled in Europe.
The EU currently exports half of its collected and sorted plastics, 85% of which goes to China.
Commission first vice president Frans Timmermans said: “We must stop plastics getting into our water, our food and even our bodies. The only long-term solution is to reduce plastic waste by recycling and reusing more.
The Chinese decision is undoubtedly a big challenge but let’s turn that challenge into an opportunity.
The Commission’s strategy aims to rid the seas and oceans from the “700 kilogrammes” of plastics it says get washed up each day, and it “will take measures to limit the use of microplastics” found in cosmetics and detergents.
The EU has set a target of having 55% of all plastic recycled by 2030.
The Commission’s strategy said: “Meeting these targets in practice will need improvements in the way plastics are designed and produced, increased cooperation between all actors involved in their life cycle. The systems for waste management need to modernise too.”
Ireland’s crisis
TheJournal.ie reported last week that Ireland’s increasing waste and plastic levels are soon to meet emergency levels following China’s ban, which came into effect on 1 January.
China took 95% of Ireland’s plastic waste in 2016, but a ban will mean that’s no longer possible. While many other European nations are searching for alternative waste-management solutions, Ireland is in a particularly dire situation.
Ireland is the top producer of plastic waste in the European Union, according to the latest Eurostat figures.
The statistics show that of Europe’s top five plastic waste offenders (calculated per capita), Ireland is top of the pile, producing 61 kilogrammes per person, per year.
It’s understood government officials and Environment Minister Denis Naughten have held meetings on the issue over the past number of weeks.
The Green Party has called on the government to take decisive action in light of the Chinese ban, stating that the UK’s plastic waste is already mounting.
Further information about Ireland’s recycling crisis can be read here.
Tax plans
The proposals did not contain plans for a tax on plastic packaging, which budget commissioner Guenther Oettinger proposed last week to fight pollution and to help plug a hole of around 13 billion euros in the bloc’s budget caused by Brexit.
“We have not found a way to introduce a European-wide plastic tax yet,” Vice President Jyrki Katainen, who is responsible for jobs and investment, told reporters.
“It is too early to promise anything.”
With reporting by Christina Finn and AFP.
Hands down.. Mad Max: Fury Road. The entire movie was one goodnight Chase scene and not one piece of CGI. I was exhausted leaving the cinema after it. G.O.A.T
@Peter Cavey: *giant
@Peter Cavey: great shout Peter. It is a class movie.
Prisoners was a great one that doesn’t get a lot of mentions.
@The Guru: great movie to be fair .
@The Guru: bloody brilliant movie. Very under rated with an amazing cast
@The Guru: I started it and stopped for some reason. I’ll have to revisit it!
Moneyball
@KilkennyProud: a really good film. Everyone was excellent in it.
The Hatefull Eight
Toy Story 3 was a classic, Ladybird was a powerful movie, The Joker was good in parts but not the best, Deadpool was one the best movies of the past 20 years, The remake of A Star is born was very good but my favourite movie of the past decade is inception,now that will go down in history as one of the greats.
Three i really enjoyed were wind river, manchester by the sea and three billboards
Night Crawler was really good.
Joker.
Acting performance of the decade from Joachim Phoenix.
@Nicky O’Donnell: Agree with you there. Unbelievable acting
Wolf, purely for the sneer on the di Caprios face when he’s in the zone making one of his speeches… pure class…
Sing Street, such a fantastic movie
Whiplash
“It Follows” was excellent. Very original story and terrifying too!
@Ruairí O’Mahony: great choice. Thought it was a very clever horror
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
@Joe Counihan: GET OUT !!!!
@Charlie: it’s gone from the cinema with ages. YAWN
Loved the last two Avengers movies. But Inception and Shutter Island were definite stand outs.
@Joe Soap: Good shout on Shutter Island. Excellent.
Inception.
That ending was unreal
And the soundtrack was epic .
Get Out, Mad Max Fury Road, Joker, Inception.
Foxcatcher. Fantastic movie
The Shape Of Water. Beautiful film
@Bridget O’Hanlon: Very Good Shout !!
Deepwater Horizon
Deadpool
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Saving Mr.Banks
@Mick: thanks Da
Such a magnificent decade for Science Fiction… Arrival and Bladerunner 2049, both outstanding in every aspect so really looking forward to Dune in 2020… Interstellar blew my mind and is one of my favourite films of all time, the father/daughter relationship really sat well with me at the time… And I am happy with the Star Wars sequel trilogy in the end, the Force Awakens was just a great time in the cinema and a cracking reboot, The Last Jedi looked amazing and was a good film, but the story choices were somewhat strange, The Rise of Skywalker tried to ignore The last jedi and ended up an entertaining if completely convoluted mess of a film, but it definitely had its moments….
I hated Wolf of Wallstreet. Im not prudish but i just thought it was so gross, Jonah Hill is pure yuk and Leonardo may be a good actor but hes such a slimeball along with the rest of the cast that i cant root for anyone in this film. I think its one of Scorsese’s worst ever. And before people say well you cant really root for anyone in any of his films, thats not really true, they are all unlikable for the most part but you still kind of root for Henry Hill and feel sorry for Travis Bikle
Das boot the German virsion
Deadpool.
The Big short watched it a few times now really good account of the financial crash.
My favourite movie of the decade was Spotlight in 2015. Very deserving of its Oscar wins.
Angry birds
My 2 year old sat through the whole of it engrossed and actually cried when it finished
Rouge One
Great decade for horror. Way too many to mention but Red State, Big Bad Wolves, It Follows, Heredity, The Witch and Mandy (yes Mandy with Nicholas Cage) were all instant classics. Dr Sleep with that bloke from Trainspotting was a bag of dog coks.
Django unchained for me closely followed by spotlight for personal reasons although a superb movie in its own right..
I Saw The Devil
In no particular order:
Interstellar, Dunkirk, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Drive, Black Swan, Her, Rush, Inception, Three Billboards
The 1 where the guy with the fancy English sounding voice was laughing at the other rich guy who robbed all the money with the fancy English sounding girlfriend. FAI the Life of me I just can’t remember the name of it. OR that other new 1 where Harry Potter is given a sack load of money to build a brand new hospital for the sick kids and poor old Harry gets it all wrong again and again. Hold on, maybe its the 1 where all the good people that served their country for years were left to die in corridors as their masters laughed all the way to the travel agency….. Can’t really remember the name of the last 1. Was very sad though. Very very sad.
Not into any of those films – so dark most of them. Favourite films – Wonder Woman, Knight and Day, Brooklyn, The Guard ( dark but hilarious and brilliant), Black Panther, Star Trek ( the first one ). Also just don’t get the fascination with Leonardo DiCaprio – good when he was younger but for me he never grew into himself and the back story to Wolf of Wall Street very seedy.
The Revenant, The Fighter and for the kids I really enjoyed Trolls and Ugly Dolls.
Machete. Quite simply, they fu**ed with the wrong Mexican
have your say