EU hotels could soon be banned from offering miniature toiletries

Hotels in the European Union are to be banned from dishing out mini toiletries to their guests.

Yep, in a bid to reduce excessive waste in the battle against climate change, plans have been drawn up to prevent hotels from giving out those tiny shampoos and toothpastes.

The European Commission hopes that it will help reduce the 180kg of waste produced by each person on the continent every year.

It's feared that without action this figure could rise by 19 percent by the end of the decade.

A report put together by the commission says: "Packaging is one of the main users of virgin materials as 40 percent of plastics and 50 percent of paper used in the EU is destined for packaging.

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"Without action, the EU would see a further 19 percent increase in packaging waste by 2030, and for plastic packaging waste even a 46 percent increase.

"The new rules aim to stop this trend. For consumers, they will ensure reusable packaging options, get rid of unnecessary packaging, limit overpackaging, and provide clear labels to support correct recycling.

"For the industry, they will create new business opportunities, especially for smaller companies, decrease the need for virgin materials, boosting Europe's recycling capacity as well as making Europe less dependent on primary resources and external suppliers.

"They will put the packaging sector on track for climate neutrality by 2050."

The plans form part of the EU's European Green Deal's Circular Economy Action Plan, which aims to make all packaging recyclable in the next seven years.

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In order to do this, as well as doing away with hotel toiletries, companies will be ordered to make sure that a certain proportion of their products are reusable or refillable.

This will also see single-use packaging for things like food and drinks in cafes and bars, and fruit and veg all banned.

Also, by 2040, restaurants offering takeaways would have to be serving 40 percent of their meals in reusable or refillable packaging.

The European Commission executive vice-president Frans Timmermans said vital action needed to be taken.

He said: “The way goods are packaged can and should be done a lot better. Such overpacking is a nuisance to us and is increasingly damaging to our environment.

“We want more packaging to be reusable, because we cannot recycle ourselves out of a growing stream of waste.

"And reusable packaging in a well-functioning reuse system is better for the environment than single-use options."

European Parliament and the Council will now consider the proposals.