62 companies jointly signed: The EU's revision of packaging regulations is a reversal of history!
More recently, discussions on future PPWR legislation in the EU have intensified since a leaked version of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) became public (October 2022). The proposal ignores the important role of the bioeconomy and its products, including bio-based and compostable plastics, in meeting Europe's ambitious environmental goals, which the bioplastics industry is concerned about. In its current version, the regulation will shut down companies across Europe from developing innovative, sustainable packaging solutions.
Common concerns about bioplastics in Europe are echoed by many other industries across the packaging chain. In a recent joint statement, a broad industry coalition of different organizations and associations expressed concerns about the European Commission's PPWR proposal.
According to the Packaging Value Chain Industry Alliance, this is very inconsistent with several key principles of European legislation, including better regulatory requirements, evidence-based approaches and evaluation priorities. Other key requirements, such as cost-effectiveness and proportionality, will also be generally ignored. "The current approach will create a regulatory environment that is at best unviable and at worst damaging to the entire European industry," the signatories said.
A significant part of the industry's criticism has centered on the recycled design guidelines, which determine what kind of packaging is allowed to be sold on the EU market. The normative negative list proposed in the draft PPWR will only undermine innovation and investment in recycling, which will have far-reaching environmental, employment and economic consequences.
The industry coalition has also criticized the proposed refill and reuse targets as unrealistic and disproportionate and therefore potentially counterproductive. According to the signatories, the proposal also lacks concrete measures that would be needed to create a framework to scale refills and reuse beyond niche programs. In addition, it criticized the lack of specific criteria related to sanitation, food health and safety requirements to assess the environmental consequences of expanded production.
In contrast, the industry strongly advocates for substantial investment in sorting and recycling infrastructure to ensure that packaging is collected first. Another point of criticism has been proposed mandatory recycled content targets for plastic packaging. Due to these difficulties, including the availability, quality and cost of recycled plastics, and legal constraints, the proposed goals cannot be achieved without including the functionality of the packaging.
In conclusion, proponents of the joint industry statement warn that the PPWR as currently drafted will set back the transition process in Europe and could roll back aspects of the Green Deal.
