A new EU law will force the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries to pay at least 80% of the costs for cleaning harmful substances that they discharge into urban wastewater. These two industries are jointly responsible for 92% of these toxic by-products. The Urban Wastewater Treatment Law will hopefully be the first of many that follow the basic principle that polluters must pay for their damage to the environment. This law also includes the costs of treatments needed to remove micro-pollutants from wastewater. The law says that 80% of the cost is the minimum that the polluting companies will pay, but every member state has the power to charge companies more than the minimum. 

By 2045, all EU countries will need to guarantee that every polluting factory is in compliance with this law, with intermediate progress targets set for 2033 and 2039. “This agreement paves the way for the highest standards to be set for treating and monitoring urban wastewater, so that harmful substances, like microplastics and PFAS are not released into the environment,” said EU environment minister Alain Maron.