This study, for Milieu Centraal, reports on the sustainability of various options for office cups, travel cups, straws and picnic plates (disposable, reusable, different materials). It also reports on the conditions that makes an option the most sustainable.
The study was prompted by the new European ban on a series of single-use plastic products: cotton-bud sticks, disposable cutlery and plates, beverage stirrers, straws, balloon sticks and take-away food containers and expanded polystyrene (EPS) cups for beverages and foodstuffs. The ban is part of EU directive 2018/0172/COD on single-use plastic products, which all Member States must have implemented in national legislation by mid-2021 at the latest.
Sanne Nusselder