The EU wants beauty brands to pay part of cleaning water from its micropollutants

If you want more glitter in your life, you don’t want it in your tap water. However, cosmetic waste is difficult to eliminate in wastewater treatment. For this reason, the European Parliament and Congress concluded a new agreement on this topic on 29 January 2024. This wants companies that produce cosmetics or medicines to pay more for this purification process, according to the principle of ” the polluter pays “.

What does the new European agreement on urban wastewater management consist of?

Virginijus Sinkevicius, the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, rejoiced on Twitter This interim agreement should better protect citizens from harmful emissions from pharmaceuticals and cosmeticsS:

“Another big step towards #ZeroPollution and circular water management. We have just concluded a provisional agreement on European urban wastewater management! More Europeans will have access to cleaner water. With this step we also define our trajectory in water investments. »

But what is it? As stated on the European Parliament website, wastewater treatment will become increasingly challenging. By 2035, EU Member States will have to remove organic matter from urban wastewater before discharging it into the environment, in all settlements with more than 1,000 inhabitants.

By 2039, EU countries will have to ensure the application of tertiary treatment (i.e. the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus) in all factories involving more than 150,000 people. And by 2045 for factories with more than 10,000 employees. Additional treatment that eliminates a broad spectrum of micropollutants (“quaternary treatment”) will be mandatory for all sites with more than 150,000 people.

Negotiators also agreed to strengthen monitoring of various public health parameters (including many emerging viruses and pathogens), as well as chemical pollutants, including PFAS (known as eternal pollutants “) and microplastics. The objective is toimprove national strategies on water resilience and reduce emissions to move towards energy neutrality.

The EU plans to make pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies pay for 80% of this treatment

But all this has a cost. And to pay for it, the European Union intends to screw pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies according to the principle ” the polluter pays »we can still read on the European Parliament website:

“Negotiators agreed to introduce Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for human medicines and cosmetic products, to cover the costs of additional treatment (quaternary treatment) to remove micropollutants from urban wastewater. The agreement provides that at least 80% of the costs will be covered by the producers, supplemented by national financing avoid unintended consequences on the availability, convenience and accessibility of life-saving products, especially medicines. »

In other words, Pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies will pay around 80% of the additional costs for better wastewater filtration in the European Union. The rapporteur of this law, Nils Torvalds, stated in this regard:

“The agreement we have reached today represents an important step forward in significantly improving standards for water management and wastewater treatment in Europe, in particular with new rules on the elimination of micropollutants from medicines and personal care. We ensured that the impact of this legislation on the affordability of medicines was not disproportionate. We are also ensuring that harmful chemicals like PFAS are better monitored and addressed in the future.

All that remains is to wait for Parliament and the Council to formally approve this agreement so that it can enter into force.

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