Ireland’s litter data reveals the success of EU rules on single-use plastics, even as key measures like coffee cup reduction stall.
In 2017 David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II showed the world the harmful effects of plastic on marine life. With scenes showing a grieving mother Pilot Whale carrying her dead calf in plastic-strewn water, turtles struggling through debris-filled beaches on Christmas Island, sea birds feeding plastic to their chicks, and dolphins interacting with plastic bags, the impact of excessive plastic use was undeniable.
The programme prompted a public outcry, with a surge of participation in beach clean ups, donations to marine charities, calls on national governments to address plastic pollution, and public pressure through social media on companies to reduce plastic.
In response to this public concern, the European Commission developed the Single Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) in 2018. The Directive was adopted in 2019 and is now, in 2026 and 2027, being evaluated for its impact.
VOICE contributed to this evaluation as part of the Commission's Call for Evidence.
The Single Use Plastics Directive targets the 10 single-use plastic products most often found on Europe's beaches and seas, as well as lost and abandoned fishing gear. Together, these constitute 70% of all marine litter items.
You will have seen the changes brought about the Directive in your day-to-day life; plastic straws replaced with paper straws, tethered caps on bottles, the turtle logo letting us know there is single use plastic in a product, and the deposit return system for drinks containers.
While the Directive is not perfect, 2026 is a terrible time from a political perspective to reopen the SUPD, as the reopening of the Directive at this time may lead to a watering down of the legislation. To this end, our Call for Evidence, while pointing out areas where we feel the SUPD could be strengthened, focused on highlighting the positive impacts of its implementation.
To do this we looked at whether or not the SUPD has made a difference here in Ireland in the levels of plastic pollution from the single-use plastics (SUP) covered by the SUPD since the legislation was enacted. To answer this, we looked to the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) annual litter surveys.
The IBAL survey results report declines in banned SUP items, and in 2023, the IBAL National Litter Survey report stated that items banned under EU legislation have largely disappeared from retail and are rarely seen in litter surveys. The banned SUP items were those with affordable plastic-free alternatives available on the market at the time of the Directive. These are cotton bud sticks made of plastic, single use plastic cutlery and plates, drinks stirrers, balloon sticks, straws (except for those classified as medical devices), and Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) food containers, beverage containers, and cups.
While the bans brought about by the SUPD have clearly had an impact, the Directive has also had an impact through its separate collection targets for single use drinks containers.
Under the legislation 77% of plastic beverage bottles (up to 3 litres) must be collected separately by 2025, and 90% of these bottles must be collected separately by 2029. Here in Ireland we introduced Re-Turn, the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) to meet these targets. This has also been successful in reducing plastic pollution with the first coastal survey conducted by IBAL since the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme showing a 30% drop in the prevalence of plastic bottles and cans.
However while the SUPD has made a real change in the levels of plastic pollution from the above single use plastics, there have also been issues with a lack of implementation of other aspects, and we raised this in our response.
One of these aspects is single use cups.
Under the Directive Member States are legally required to achieve an ambitious and sustained reduction in the consumption of single-use plastic beverage cups by 2026. Initially Ireland had great ambition on this, with a 2022 press release from the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment announcing the Circular Economy Bill 2022 stating:
“Among its [the CE Bill] targets is to make Ireland the first country in the world to eliminate the use of disposable coffee cups, nearly half a million of which are currently sent to landfill or incineration every day, amounting to 200 million cups a year.
This process will begin with a ban over the coming months on the use of disposable coffee cups for sit-in customers in cafés and restaurants, followed by the introduction of a small charge on disposable cups for takeaway coffees that can be avoided completely by using a keep cup. This will operate in the same way as the existing Plastic Bag Levy, which has been so successful in reducing plastic bag litter across the country.”
Great plans indeed, but ones that have fallen out of political favour, with the much-discussed coffee cup levy failing to be implemented, and the government is currently looking to explore other avenues in its place. This is reflected in the results of the IBAL surveys, which found that there was no fall in coffee cup litter, with discarded coffee cups found in 42% of the sites surveyed.
While the Directive is not perfect, this is clear evidence of the importance of implementing environmental legislation, and how it makes a real difference on the ground.
Main image credit: taken at the National Geographic's Planet or Plastic Exhibition when it was in Ireland.
