According to reports, beauty companies will have to pay more to clean up microplastic pollution after negotiators reached a new agreement on wastewater treatment in the European Union.
It is reported that, based on the draft rules following the “polluter pays” principle, companies selling pharmaceuticals and cosmetics will have to pay at least 80% of additional costs to remove trace pollutants from polluted urban wastewater. EU members state that the government will cover the remaining portion to prevent essential products from becoming overly expensive or scarce. Virginijus Sinkevičius, the EU Commissioner for Environment, stated that these measures will protect citizens from the harmful emissions of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics that ultimately enter water bodies.
According to reports, by 2035, EU member states must remove organic substances from urban wastewater before discharging it into communities with populations exceeding 1,000. By 2045, all wastewater treatment plants serving populations over 10,000 must also remove nitrogen and phosphorus. According to the European Parliament, an additional step must be taken to remove “widespread” micro-pollutants. Governments are also required to monitor key health indicators in wastewater, such as microplastics, perfluoroalkyl substances, and antibiotic resistance.
The European Parliament and the European Commission have reached a consensus on these rules, but they have not been formally adopted yet. These rules increase the requirements for removing nutrients from water and establish new standards for micro-pollutants. Nils Torvalds, the Finnish liberal MEP responsible for the proposal, stated, “The agreement we have reached today is a breakthrough that significantly raises Europe’s water management and wastewater treatment standards, particularly regarding the new provisions for removing micro-pollutants from pharmaceuticals and personal care products.”
