Single-use plastic bags are banned in Albania

Single-use plastic bags are now banned in Albania. The amendments to the law on integrated waste management, passed by parliament in March, came into force today. According to the new rule, it is forbidden to produce, import and sell single-use plastic bags including those that are defined as oxo-degradable or oxo-biodegradable. The legislation excludes those with a thickness of at least 70 microns that can hold a minimum of ten kilograms. They can’t be smaller than 50 times 24 centimetres in size.  Albania doesn’t have any recycling facilities that can properly expose oxo-degradable and oxo-biodegradable plastics to oxygen. The European Commission has banned oxo-degradable and oxo-biodegradable plastics. These materials can only be broken down in controlled conditions for microorganisms and fungus to take over and that in landfills and water it just turns into microplastics and releases chemicals and metals (even cobalt!) from the additives that are supposed to accelerate the process.




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