Page - 248 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

wastewater (see Annex III of the directive) and/or rainfall water. The issue of (micro)plastic is not included, so that adequate amendmentsmight beneeded. Compared toEurope, theUSwastewater regulations establishedby theFederal Water Pollution Control Act, short Clean Water Act [18], provide the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants and regulating quality standards for surfacewaters.TheCleanWaterAct refers to regulationofwastewater aswell as entry of waste from diffuse sources. Total maximum daily loads of waste are defined aiming at reducing the waste input to freshwater systems. However, it should be noted that, for example, under Californian law, debris less than 5mm is not considered litter subject to regulation [15, 19, 20].Accordingly, freshwater MPs, here too, are currently not considered. 2.2.2 Land-BasedPolicy Packaging ThePackaging andPackagingWasteDirective [21] calls on themember states to implement return, collection, and recovery systems.Themanufacturers, importers, anddistributorsaredirectly responsible for reducingpackagingwasteaswellas for developing their own take-back scheme. The “Green Dot Initiative” covering severalEuropeancountries, for example, collects, sorts, and recyclesusedpackag- ing. Furthermore, it encourages giving packaging waste a value while being recovered and/or recycled. Hence, the Packaging and PackagingWasteDirective aims not only at “ensur[ing] the functioning of the internal market and to avoid obstacles to trade anddistortion and restrictionof competitionwithin theCommu- nity”but alsoat “prevent[ing] any impact [. . .] on the environment of allMember Statesaswell asof thirdcountriesor [. . .] reduc[ing] such impact, thusprovidinga high level of environmental protection” [21, p. 3]. The Directive 2004/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste [22] aims to ensure that recovery and recycling of packagingwaste should be further increased to reduce its environmental impact. With regard to plastics contained in packaging waste, it sets a minimum recycling target of 22.5% by weight no later than 31 December 2008, counting exclusively material that is recycled back into plastics. Annex I gives illustrative examples for criteria of “packaging” referred to inArticle 3(1) of [21].Here, amongothers, plastic carrier bags arementioned. CarrierBags Meanwhile, the issue of plastic carrier bags is picked up by another amending directive, known as the PlasticBagsDirective [23]. The PlasticBagsDirective is for thefirst timeconsideringnotonly themanagementofpackagingandpackaging waste but also its consumption. Itwas adopted in 2015, and its implementation is currentlyunderway in themember states. It aimsat reducingvery significantly the use of single-use lightweight plastic carrier bags.Themeasures to be takenby the 248 N.Brennholt et al.