Plastic pellet losses constitute the third largest source of microplastics unintentionally released to the environment in the Union and occur due to poor handling practices at all stages of the plastic pellet supply chain, which includes production including recycling, master batching, compounding, conversion, processing, distribution, transport, including by sea, and other logistic operations, storage, packaging, and the cleaning of plastic pellet containers and tanks. Hence, a supply-chain approach is essential for ensuring that all economic actors involved in the handling of plastic pellets are committed to loss prevention. Since 2015, the European plastic manufacturing industry has progressively adopted the international Operation Clean Sweep® (OCS) programme as a voluntary pledge. Under that programme, each enterprise producing or handling plastic pellets recognises the importance of having zero plastic pellet losses and commits to adopting best practices. While such practices are generally well understood by OCS signatories, they have not been comprehensively implemented. The uptake of the OCS programme by the plastic industry remains low.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
