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Date Published: 15/04/2025

EU to ban single-use milk and sugar packets in restaurants

Coming into effect mid-2026, the law will also ban ketchup sachets and hotel toiletries

In an effort to move toward a more sustainable economy, the European Union is pushing ahead with new regulations that will significantly impact the hospitality industry. Brussels has announced plans to ban single-serve portions of milk and sugar typically offered with coffee and tea in restaurants.

According to reports, from the middle of next year businesses across the EU—including restaurants, hotels and cafés—will no longer be allowed to provide certain items in disposable packaging. This includes individual containers of milk and sugar, as well as single-serve portions of butter, jam, ketchup and other sauces often given to diners.

It looks like hotels will also be affected, with the new rules targeting miniature bottles of shampoo and shower gel commonly found in guest rooms. While it’s undoubtedly better for the environment, this will make flying a little trickier, since everyone will soon need to bring their toiletries with them.

The proposed regulation forms part of the EU's broader Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), aimed at reducing the use of single-use plastics. These materials are considered especially harmful to the environment due to their short lifecycle and limited recyclability.

Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge defines single-use plastics as "products manufactured wholly or partially with plastic and that have not been conceived, designed, or introduced to the market to complete, within their lifetime, multiple circuits or rotations by being returned to a producer to be refilled or reused for the same purpose for which they were conceived," as established in Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soil for a circular economy.

With the enforcement date fast approaching, hospitality establishments across the EU will need to adjust their practices and find sustainable alternatives to comply with the new environmental standards.

In other news: Lyrid meteor shower lights up the Spanish skies this April

Image: Pexels

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