EU Parliament says polluters must pay on wastewater: big pharma and cosmetics companies should clean up their act

The European Union could soon hold big pharma and the cosmetics industry to account for their wastewater pollution. On Wednesday 10 April, the EU parliament approved a package of rules to make polluters pay for the cost of cleaning up their wastewaters.

Big pharma and cosmetics must clean up wastewater pollution

Industrial pollution from pharmaceutical wastewater can have devastating impacts on nature. For instance, studies have shown that drug pollution can impact reproduction and behaviour in fish species – threatening their survival. Moreover, pharmaceutical companies are causing microbes to build anti-biotic resistance through this pollution. Alarmingly, this is fomenting the creation of deadly superbugs.

According to the EU, pharmaceutical producers generate 59% of micropollutants in water treatment stations. Meanwhile, cosmetics companies are responsible for 14%.

So, the EU parliament has been drafting plans to make these companies take responsibility for this. On Wednesday 10 April, 481 members of parliament voted in favour, while 79 voted against and 26 abstained.

“Polluter pays” principle

Crucially, the package establishes the principle of “the polluter pays”. In effect, it will do so by imposing greater contributions from the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. The plan will make pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies stump up 80% of the costs for extra investments needed to eliminate micropollutants. Meanwhile, member states will cover the remaining 20%.

The European Commission initially wanted industry to cover the full cost, but it dialled back its demands under pressure from the parliament and industry lobbyists.

The text revises rules in place since 1991 in the EU’s Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD). By 2035, the new regulations will require EU member states to remove organic matter from wastewater before releasing it into the environment. Notably, it reduces the threshold to include all communities with more than 1,000 people. It previously applied this to towns larger than 2,000 people.

Moreover, towns with more than 150,000 inhabitants will have to remove all nitrogen and phosphorous by 2039. On top of this, it requires them to remove a wider range of micropollutants by 2045.

Importantly, pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies will have to shoulder a significant share of the cost for reaching these targets.

Mop up their mess in the EU, but not in the UK

As the Guardian reported in March, the UK government isn’t planning to follow suit. This means that while the EU may soon hold big pharma and cosmetics companies to account for fixing urban wastewater pollution, the UK government could make the public foot the bill.

EU member states must still officially approve the new package. However, it’s a significant step to making big polluters finally mop up their mess.

Feature image via Wikimedia, resized to 1200 by 900, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse