With its proposal for an EU regulation on packaging and packaging waste, which was presented on Wednesday 30 November, the European Commission is taking another step towards making the EU more resource-efficient and is truly moving towards the circular economy, combining waste minimisation and prevention with a parallel increase in recycling and reuse of packaging to tackle a growing waste mountain.
This regulation, which totals some 200 pages and is intended to replace a directive of the same name (94/62/EC) and set legally binding targets for Member States, was detailed in our draft (see EUROPE 13069/16). It is a major piece of the second circular economy legislative package.
To fit in with the reuse requirements that are concerning the industry and some countries such as Italy, the text presented on Wednesday makes it clear that all packaging will have to be recyclable by 2030, as already foreseen in the EU plastics strategy. This represents a major clarification of the text.
“A few years ago, we started to make plastics fully circular, limiting and even banning some of the most polluting single-use plastics. You know the examples: straws, cutlery, cups, plates, food containers etc. Today, we are taking the next step by putting the entire packaging sector firmly on track towards circularity. The way goods are packaged can and should be done a lot better”, emphasised the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President in charge of the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans.
“In 2020, 65% of packaging waste was recycled. This means that still 35% is incinerated, landfilled or even littered. This equals nearly 30 million tonnes of materials lost. This is the problematic part of the packaging waste that we address today. If we don’t stop these trends, the volume of plastic waste could increase by 46 percent by 2030. So we need systemic change”, added the European Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius,
The proposed regulation retains the recycling targets for 2025 and 2030 and the targets per material and sector from the directive that was amended in 2018, but goes further by removing the 5-year derogation for 2030 and setting a target for Member States to reduce the amount of packaging on the market by 5% by 2030 and by 15% by 2040 compared to 2018, which would represent a 40% reduction from the base year.
Recycled content. From 1 January 2030, plastic packaging should contain a minimum amount of recycled content that has been recovered from post-consumer plastic waste, per unit of plastic packaging; these are quantities that are set to increase by 1 January 2040.
Reuse objectives. The proposed text sets binding mandatory reuse and refill targets for 2030 and 2040 for different sectors (such as beverages and takeaways) and for packaging formats, although there is an exemption for SMEs and the option for Member States to provide for exemptions. The targets for wine (5% in 2030 and 15% in 2040) are much lower than for beer and soft drinks. It will be up to the European Commission to establish the detailed calculation rules and methodology for these targets by means of an implementing act.
A mandatory deposit system, but there is an exemption. The economic operator who places reusable packaging on the market would be obligated to set up a reuse system for such packaging. A deposit system would be mandatory for plastic bottles and aluminium cans.
An exemption from the obligation to put in place a deposit system would, however, be possible for operators that use a selective collection system if they can achieve 90% of the collection target.
See the proposal for a regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/4d5 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)