On Friday 6 March, in an initiative put in place by the Netherlands and France, who were later joined by Denmark, 16 governments and 66 organisations (companies and NGOs) launched a 'European Plastics Pact' to control the use of plastics in a circular economy by reducing plastic waste and the use of plastic in products, and by increasing recycling and reuse of plastics.
“The European Plastics Pact is a unique opportunity for governments and businesses to work together for a greener future”, said Danish Environment Minister Lea Wermelin.
In practical terms, the members of this public-private coalition have committed themselves to achieving the following by 2025: (1) designing all plastic packaging and single-use plastic products for use on the market in such a way that, as far as possible, they can be re-used and can be recycled; (2) reducing products and packaging made from virgin plastic by at least 20% (by weight); (3) increasing the capacity for collecting, sorting and recycling plastics by at least 25%; (4) increasing the use of recycled plastics in new products and packaging, and expecting companies using plastics to manage to incorporate an average of at least 30% recycled plastics (by weight) in their range of products and packaging.
Brune Poirson, the French Minister of State attached to the Minister for Ecological Inclusion and the Inclusive Transition, believes that this is an ambitious pact that really aims to “create a movement of people who join the initiative”.
This point was also highlighted by Stientje van Veldhoven, the Dutch Minister for the Environment and Housing. She added: “If we want to tackle climate change [...] we have to start treating plastic as the valuable raw material it is and keep it out of our oceans”.
Frans Timmermans, the Vice-President responsible for the Green Deal, welcomed the initiative and reiterated the crucial importance of the circular economy in achieving the EU's target of climate neutrality by 2050. “The circular economy is going to be the economy of the future”, he said. He called for the parties involved “to take a value chain approach” and stressed that the circular economy is not just about recycling and reusing plastics, but also about “creating a new relationship with the products we have”.
Thirteen Member States have so far signed the Pact (the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Greece, Slovenia, Sweden, Finland and Latvia). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)