Under a regulation adopted by the European Commission on Thursday, 15 September, the use of recycled plastics—if they are safe—will now be permitted in food packaging in the EU.
The new rules modernise Regulation EC 1935/2004 on materials and articles intended to come into contact with food, which establishes a framework to ensure that these materials neither endanger human health nor bring about an unacceptable change in the composition of the food or a deterioration in its organoleptic properties.
The new regulation establishes clear rules in order to ensure that recycled plastic can safely be used in food packaging; in doing so, it will also support the circular economy and reduce the sector’s environmental impact.
It will authorise recycling processes for manufacturing safe recycled plastic materials for use in food packaging.
It will help the recycling industry implement suitable methods for recycling plastics that currently cannot be recycled into food packaging.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), for its part, will have a clearer basis for assessing the suitability of recycling technologies and the safety of recycled plastic in food packaging manufactured with these technologies.
The regulation will allow individual authorisations for more than 200 mechanical PET (polyethylene terephthalate) recycling processes to be granted, which will help the industry reach the binding target of 25% recycled plastic in PET beverage bottles by 2025.
A public register of recycling processes, recyclers, and recycling installations that fall under this regulation will be established.
“With around 50% of all plastic packaging in the EU used for food products, we need to ensure that this sector can transition towards a more sustainable food production safely and efficiently”, commented Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)