The European Commission adopted, on Tuesday 30 June, new rules intended to harmonise across the Union the calculation, verification and reporting of recycled single-use plastic beverage bottles made primarily of polyethylene terephthalate (PET bottles). These rules form part of the Commission’s December 2025 ‘plastics’ legislative package.
This framework is intended to ensure consistent application of European targets on recycled plastics, while strengthening transparency and credibility of data submitted by Member States.
The scheme confirms the priority given to mechanical recycling, but explicitly opens the door to chemical recycling, provided that it complies with strict traceability and environmental impact requirements (see EUROPE 13803/31). For this procedure, the Commission introduces the so-called ‘mass balance’ method, which makes it possible to attribute recycled content to finished products when material flows are mixed, while excluding plastics converted into fuels or lost during the process.
The text also specifies the scope of bottles concerned: calculation of recycled content will include not only bottle body, but also caps, lids, labels and sleeves. Only plastics from post-consumer waste may be counted. Economic operators will be subject to stricter reporting and data-retention obligations, combined with independent checks, while Member States will have to verify information on a risk-based approach. Lastly, the Commission provides for a review of the scheme by 2030.
For more information: https://aeur.eu/f/mn6 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)