The European Parliament asked for a ban on the marketing of numerous disposable plastic products such as picnic plates and cotton buds. The latter, in fact, are among the main causes of pollution of the oceans and surface fresh waters.

On Tuesday 1st January 2019, the ban on producing and selling cotton buds with plastic sticks, products that are, therefore, not biodegradable and compostable, will come into force in Italy. Italy will be the first country in the European Union to ban the production and sale of cotton buds in plastic, a ban that the European Union has been working on for quite some time and which seems to have finally arrived. The proposal will be submitted for approval and will have to be negotiated with the Council of the European Union, the other body that holds legislative power: if everything goes smoothly, it should be definitively approved by March 2019. The actual bans, if approved, they will enter into force in the countries of the Union from 1st January 2021. Although we have to wait a little longer, this ban represents a first and important step in the battle for the health of our oceans and our planet.