On Tuesday 24 October, the members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Health and Food Safety (ENVI) will vote on the proposal for a regulation on packaging and packaging waste (revision of Directive 94/62/EC), which aims to promote the reuse of packaging and prevent packaging waste in the EU by the end of 2022 (see EUROPE 13074/7).
After a great deal of effort, the S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups agreed on 11 October on compromise amendments to the report by Frédérique Ries (Renew Europe, Belgian), which maintain the main thrust of the proposal, in particular the target for all packaging to be recyclable by 2030, but lower the level of ambition with regard to the re-use of waste.
However, this may still be too ambitious for the EPP, ECR and ID groups. In the EU Council, Italy is the Member State most opposed to the re-use requirement (see EUROPE 13140/16), as are the fast food industry sectors, Ms Ries herself for food and takeaway drinks (see EUROPE 13176/6) and the packaging industry – plastic and paper (see EUROPE 13159/7).
No more re-use for fast food. Under the terms of the compromises, the quantity of packaging waste will have to be reduced by 15% by 2040 compared to 2018, but the requirement that 20% of all takeaway drinks and 10% of all takeaway meals must be sold in reusable containers by 2030 has been dropped, which is deplored by left-wing MEPs such as Delara Burkhardt (S&D, German).
However, there will be Europe-wide re-use quotas for certain products.
20% of all soft drinks and 10% of all alcoholic drinks in the EU must be sold in refillable bottles from 2030.
In B2C transport (business to consumer), more reusable transport packaging will be needed in future (e.g., for transporting large appliances or in online mail order).
When transporting products between companies (B2B), we will also need to use more reusable packaging.
Less disposable packaging. Disposable packaging that can be easily replaced by reusable alternatives will be banned.
Fruit and vegetables weighing less than 1 kg can no longer be sold in disposable plastic or composite packaging.
Small shampoo bottles in hotels should be replaced by refillable shampoo dispensers.
In large catering establishments, disposable packaging will be banned. At McDonald's and other restaurants, only reusable crockery will be available from now on for eating and drinking on the premises.
Minimising oversized packaging
Packaging must not exceed the dimensions strictly necessary to guarantee the safety and transport of a product.
Packaging, including shipping parcels, will no longer be able to contain more than 40% empty space.
Chemicals. The compromise amendments also provide for a ban on chemicals that are harmful to health, such as bisphenol A and PFAS – those eternal pollutants - in packaging that comes into direct contact with food – without waiting for the revision of the REACH regulation, which will not be presented before the European elections.
On Friday 20 October, the chairman of the ENVI committee, Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, French), from the same political group as Frédérique Ries, predicted “a close vote”.
On the same day, Rethink Plastic Alliance, a network of NGOs that sees the compromises on the table as ‘successful lobbying’ by the industry, declared in the words of its coordinator: “We are very worried that these bare-minimum compromises may not even make it through the very Parliament committee whose function it is to protect the environment and human health.” The NGO said it feared that the compromise would be weakened “by the Italian MEPs from the EPP and ECR groups and mirroring demands from the packaging industry”.
The European Parliament vote is scheduled for the November plenary session (20-23 November). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)