European union environmental policy and the use of plastics in the context of green theory

It is estimated that the green theory began to be discussed in the 1960s as a criticism of the destruction caused by the industrial revolution, which spread rapidly in the world with the invention of steam engines. Green theory criticizes the current order in which humans dominate nature, and its events are not human-oriented; handled with an environmental focus. The green theory, which rejects people's use of nature in accordance with their wishes and desires, has reinterpreted the views of the mainstream theories on this issue. When the European Union (EU) was first established, it progressed towards becoming an economic union and ignored the environmental issue in its first years. But, with the social and political integration of the union and the globalization of environmental problems, the environmental issue has started to take place on the agenda of the EU. The issue of environmental protection was formally included in the EU's mandate with the Single European Act in 1986.The EU aimed to produce common environmental policies within the union by determining principles related to environmental policies. Today, environmental protection is very important for the EU.Plastics, which have not disappeared in nature for centuries, cause serious environmental problems. The EU has banned the use of some plastic materials with its Plastic Strategy and especially the Single-Use Plastics Directive, which it has put forward to reduce the use of plastics. In this context, in our study, starting from the formation of the EU environmental policy in the context of green theory, its historical process, environmental programs, the principles of the policy carried out and the actors have been mentioned. How the EU struggles with plastic waste and the measures and policies it takes in this context have been researched.