MOSCOW (MRC) --The Spanish Cabinet approved a draft law that introduces a new tax on plastic waste, among other environmental measures, said EsPlasticos.
The indirect levy will tax the manufacture, import or acquisition of non-reusable plastic packaging from other European Union countries for use in the Spanish market, according to the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition.
The ministry said that the proposed tax is similar to what other countries such as the United Kingdom and Italy are planning to introduce. It would require payment of EUR0.45 for every kilogram of plastic packaging, and is expected to bring in annual revenue of close to EUR724 million, based on 2017 figures.
The European Commission and international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been urging Spain for years to increase its green taxes and introduce greater penalties for the most contaminating activities.
On Tuesday, the ministry said that based on 2017 figures, revenue from green taxes represented 1.83% of Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP), compared with the EU average of 2.40%. “Spain has the fifth-lowest ratio of environmental revenue-to-GDP of the entire EU,” said the ministry in a release.
The Spanish government first started a public consultation on green taxes in late February, when it discussed the possibility of introducing a tax on single-use plastic packaging. In the end, this levy has been included in a broader draft law on waste and soil contamination. Following its Cabinet approval, the draft will now begin to make its way through parliament.
EsPlastics is a plastics industry-wide trade group founded by ANAIP, the recycling non-profit organisation Cicloplast, the research institute for plastics body Aimplas, as well the European trade group PlasticsEurope.
As per MRC, EU Plastic Tax approved by European Council: A Danger for the EU Single Market & Recovery. The plan foresees a EUR0.80/kg levy on non-recycled plastic packaging waste to be paid by member states into the EU budget.
As MRC informed earlier, an estimated 11 million metric tons (MMt) of plastic waste enter the ocean every year and this will almost triple by 2040, to 29 MMt, if immediate and sustained action is not taken, according to a newly published in-depth report.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
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