Limitation of microplastics: are degradable alternatives more sustainable?
Draft Regulation on REACH restrictions on microplastics ready
The European Commission has recently published a draft to limit intentional microplastics, the result of a work carried out in collaboration with ECHA with the aim of reducing the spread of these pollutants.
In fact, in 2019, upon the request of the European Commission, ECHA published its dossier. Today, the Commission is elaborating what the Risk Assessment Committee and the Socio-Economic Analysis Committee of the Agency have submitted and proposes some changes and clarifications with respect to the original draft.
Natural, degradable and soluble polymers excluded from the definition
The Commission deems it appropriate –as already indicated in the ECHA dossier– to exclude natural, degradable and soluble polymers from the definition of synthetic polymer microparticles, as they do not contribute to the risk: it also agrees that polymers that degrade in multiple environmental compartments should be excluded from the scope of the restriction.
It therefore clearly emerges that it is necessary to establish the methods with which shall the degradability in all the different environments listed in the Annex to the draft be tested.
Pass criteria must be met in at least three of the following environments:
- Fresh or estuarine water,
- Freshwater or estuarine sediments
- Seawater,
- Marine sediments,
- Seawater / sediment interface,
- Soil.
Focus on products used in agriculture
The draft deals with the risks of releasing synthetic polymer microparticles from agricultural and horticultural products, for example to control the release of fertilizers or the flow of water between these products and the soil
The development of environmentally sustainable alternatives that allow these beneficial applications to become microplastics-free and remain on the market shall be eased.
The general principles for assessing whether polymers present in EU fertilizing products are degradable are already present in Regulation (EU) 2019/1009. In this context, the Commission deems that specific conditions and pass criteria to test the degradability of polymers in agricultural and horticultural products –other than EU fertilizing products– is justified to ensure consistency with testing conditions envisaged in Regulation (EU) no. 2019/1009 and facilitate the development of alternatives.
Biodegradable plastics and microplastics
The theme of bioplastics as an alternative to traditional plastics fits into this context. European Bioplastics has long argued that although biodegradable and compostable plastics –like all solid materials– produce small particles, they are not the same type of persistent microparticles that form with conventional non-biodegradable materials. On the contrary, these particles biodegrade because in most natural environments the microorganisms are able to metabolize these polymers. Therefore, the residence time and thus persistence would be significantly lower for biodegradable polymers than for conventional plastics.
For further information:
- Draft of EC Regulation and Annex
- Position Paper di European Bioplastics
Pending developments in this proposal, the role of biodegradable and compostable materials meanwhile gains further environmental importance.
Our laboratory has long experience in compostability and biodegradability studies in different environments, and provides its experts for a free discussion.
