Recycling laggard Greece to discard single-use plastic

FILE PHOTO: A volunteer diver of the environmental group Aegean Rebreath gathers plastic waste from the bottom of the sea, off the island of Andros, Greece, July 20, 2019. REUTERS/Stelios Misinas/File Photo

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece has drafted a bill banning the use of a range of single-use plastics, from takeaway coffee cups to cotton buds, ahead of an EU deadline in 2021, the government said on Tuesday.

Greeks, who are heavy coffee drinkers, annually require 350 million plastic cups and 2 billion plastic bottles, the environment ministry said. In the European Union, about 80% of the litter that ends in the sea, endangering marine life, is plastic.