The European Commission published, on Wednesday 29 September, its roadmap, open for feedback until 27 October, for the development of a future EU policy framework for biobased, biodegradable and compostable plastics.
This initiative is expected in the second quarter of 2022, in the form of a Commission Communication. It will aim to promote the transition to a circular economy for plastics, as part of the EU’s second circular economy action plan of March 2020 (see EUROPE 12444/1).
Objectives: to promote greater coherence in EU policy-making, to better protect the environment, to reduce consumer confusion, to enhance investment security, to encourage competitiveness and innovation.
Action Plan 2.0 states that the policy framework should address the sustainability challenges related to: - the sourcing, labelling and use of biobased plastics to ensure that their use leads to real environmental benefits beyond the reduction of fossil resource use; - the use of biodegradable and compostable plastics, based on an assessment of the applications where such use can be beneficial to the environment and the criteria for such applications.
The initiative will be developed in close coordination with the revision of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, the Sustainable Products Initiative and the implementation of the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive (see EUROPE 12730/7).
Link to the public consultation: https://bit.ly/3CZjgV9 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)