The European Commission will decide whether or not to implement a so-called plastics tax by July 2018, according to Eric Liegeois, team leader for plastics and waste recycling at the European Commission, speaking at the Petcore conference in Brussels on Thursday.
Liegeois said that a polymer tax could be part of a framework adopted by the commission in the summer of 2018, although a decision has yet to be reached.
Liegeois made it clear that maintaining a strong plastics industry in Europe remains a priority.
"We want to keep the plastics industry here," he said, adding that one aim of the European Commission is a strategy for jobs within the plastics industry in Europe.
"All in all we want growth in the plastics industry but we want this growth to be decoupled from plastic waste growth," Liegeois said.
