Energy and Environment

EU’s ‘Micro-Managing Misery Merchants’ Double Down on Plastic Regulation


Andy Mayer writes for The Telegraph

IEA Energy Analyst Andy Mayer has written for The Daily Telegraph discussing the EU’s new Revision of the Packaging and Packing Waste Directive.

Andy wrote:

“In 2021 each EU citizen generated 189kg up about 17% over the decade. Which raises questions over the utility of the previous legislation. Self-evidently it failed.

“The EU of course prefers targets, central planning, and petty interference to market efficiency. The original Commission proposal went far further than the new deal, it sought to ban single-use paper packaging, such as a brown bag for bendy bananas or a boulangerie baguette. Those ideas were binned, for now, but may well be recycled.

“Brexit, I regret does not make us immune. Our own breed of Parliamentary tinkerers and gloomsters will see this as an inspiration for more bans on straws and cups. British gold-plating of EU regulations has not gone away, and the mood of the next Parliament is likely to be closer alignment.”

Read Andy’s full piece here.



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