Disposable product
In 2015 the European Union (EU) adopted a directive requiring a reduction in the consumption of single use plastic bags per person to 90 by 2019 and to 40 by 2025.
[3] In April 2019, the EU adopted a further directive banning almost all types of single use plastic, except bottles, from the beginning of the year 2021.
[4][5] In the UK, a 2018 HM Treasury consultation on single-use plastic waste taxation noted that the production process for single-use plastic originates in the conversion of naturally occurring substances into polymers, which vary in their capacity for being re-processed on one or more occasions, meaning that some polymers can be reprocessed and reused only once, and others cannot at present be reprocessed in an economic manner and are therefore destined to have only a single use.
have adopted legislation to ensure that plastic packaging waste collected from households is sorted, reprocessed, compounded, and reused or recycled.
[18] In 2013 Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) banned outright the use of disposable tableware in the nation's 968 schools, government agencies and hospitals.
In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, laws banning use of disposable food and drink containers at large-scale events have been enacted.
[citation needed] Such a ban has been in place in Munich, Germany, since 1991, applying to all city facilities and events.
For small events of a few hundred people, the city has arranged for a corporation offer rental of crockery and dishwasher equipment.
[22] A kulhar is a traditional handle-less clay cup from South Asia that is typically unpainted and unglazed, and meant to be disposable.
[25] Yoghurt, hot milk with sugar as well as some regional desserts, such as kulfi (traditional ice-cream), are also served in kulhars.
[26] Kulhars have gradually given way to polystyrene and coated paper cups, because the latter are lighter to carry in bulk and cheaper.[27][28] Medical and surgical device manufacturers worldwide produce a multitude of items that are intended for one use only.
[29] The primary reason is infection control; when an item is used only once it cannot transmit infectious agents to subsequent patients.
