Single-use plastic items will be banned in the European Union by 2021, as the bloc pushes manufacturers to step up their recycling efforts.

On Wednesday (March 27), a 560 to 35 majority in the European Parliament voted in favor of the ban, which includes 10 types of plastics such as straws, cutlery, plates, and cotton buds - the items most commonly found on EU beaches.

The decision comes following China's move to stop processing waste alongside images of whales washing up around the world with tons of plastic in their stomach, a potent symbol of ocean pollution, of which 85 percent is plastic.

The EU currently recycles a mere quarter of the 25 million tons of plastics waste it produces per year.

In Brussels, Damien Hamelryk runs a snack restaurant using as little plastic as possible, using a substitute in takeaway containers called polylactic acid.

(SOUNDBITE) (French) CHEF AND OWNER OF MONSIEUR DAM, DAMIEN HAMELRYK, SAYING: "PLA (Polylactic Acid) is more expensive than plastic.

It depends but for a fork, for example, made with PLA, it's around three or four times the price of a plastic fork.

So yes, it has a cost.

It's just that I decided to make less profit to have a smaller impact (on the environment).

Simply because I think we have a responsibility and we have to make an effort for the planet and for other people." EU countries will also have to collect and recycle at least 90 percent of beverage bottles by 2029.