EU reaches deal to reduce plastic waste from packaging

The agreement also sets packaging reduction targets, from 5% by 2030 to 15% by 2040, and requires EU countries in particular to reduce the amount of plastic packaging waste.

The EU reached a deal on Monday evening to ban the plastic wrapping of fruit and vegetables in supermarkets, mini packages of ketchup in restaurants and tiny shampoo bottles in hotels in a drive to cut waste from packaging. Under the deal, a range of "single use plastic packaging formats", including the use of shrink-wrap for suitcases in airports, would be banned from 2030.

Negotiators of the EU countries and the European Parliament also set a target of at least 10% for the use of reusable packaging for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages by the end of the decade and agreed to ban "forever chemicals" from food packaging. The agreement also sets packaging reduction targets, from 5% by 2030 to 15% by 2040, and requires EU countries in particular to reduce the amount of plastic packaging waste.