Czechia misses EU single-use plastics ban deadline

The Czech Republic has yet to approve the European directive banning single-use plastics that came into force on Saturday and could face sanctions due to the delay.

The Ministry of the Environment, however, expects that Czech MPs will soon approve the directive and that the now banned products will disappear by June 2022.

Adopted in 2018 after several months of negotiations between EU member states of the European Union, the directive bans a dozen categories of plastics. According to the European Commission, the products concerned represent 70 percent of the waste washed up in the oceans and on the beaches.