New packaging rules set to become law despite Commission objections

EU national governments agreed on Friday (15 March) to a new regime of packaging waste rules, following a dramatic few weeks during which the European Commission threatened to veto an agreement reached between governments and the European Parliament earlier this month and withdraw the proposal before it could become law.

The law aims to make recycling more uniform across the EU by changing a directive into a regulation, but there was disagreement over whether to apply the new rules to imports.

The dispute centred on a provision introduced to the law in the Council at the last minute at the impetus of France which introduces a “mirror clause” holding firms that want to export to the EU to the same standards of recycled content as domestic producers of plastic packaging.

The Commission’s trade department warned that this went beyond the mandate of the law because it touched on trade issues which are dealt with bilaterally by the Commission.

Watered down clause

On Friday, national governments insisted on maintaining the clause but watered it down sufficiently so that the Commission signed off on the agreement. It will now pass to the European Parliament’s environment committee for approval tomorrow (19 March), followed by a final approval vote in the parliament’s April plenary session.

For households, the most visible change brought by the new law will be the harmonisation of deposit return schemes for plastic bottles and cans.

Countries like Italy and Spain, which currently do not have deposit return schemes, will have to adopt them by 2029 to achieve the 90% target for returns of plastic bottles and drink cans. Adopting a return scheme is not mandatory, provided countries get their collection rate to 80% in 2026, but experts say it would be impossible for countries like Italy, with a collection rate below 50%, to meet the target without one.

PPWD was too vague

The new law has been welcomed by recyclers who have long complained that the existing Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) was too vague and allowed for drastically different recycling regimes throughout the EU. The new regime (PPWR) will instead be a regulation, a type of EU law that is much more proscriptive as opposed to directives which set objectives for member states and allows them to craft their own national legislation to get there.

The new regulation, proposed by the Commission in late 2022, aims to cut packaging by 15% by 2040 while restricting single-use plastic packaging for sauces like mayonnaise and cosmetics. The law, which will take effect in 2026, also contains an interim 5% reduction target for 2030 as well as product-specific restrictions.

From 2030, fruit and vegetables may no longer be wrapped in single-use plastic, nor may luggage be plastic-wrapped at airports. Plastic sauce cachets will also be banned, while their paper counterparts will be permitted.

“This will change the packaging landscape for the coming years,” said Annick Carpentier, Director General of the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment, which represents European beverage carton manufacturers and their paperboard suppliers.

Carpentier argues that the new law provides much-needed legal certainty for companies. She explained: “What I think sometimes is not understood is the length of investments [in product design and recycling]. You start planning it, work with engineers, agree with partners, it’s a ten-year timeframe. So, in that sense, we’re pleased that the text was adopted.”

Concessions and exemptions

In the past weeks, there has been concern that the Commission’s objection to the mirror clause would delay the adoption of the text until after June’s EU election, which would risk having the whole proposal collapse and leaving the EU only with the existing PPWD. The implications of the new clause wording are still being examined by lawyers to determine their exact implications.

Packaging is a €370 billion business in Europe and the amount of waste Europeans produce has grown by 25% over the past ten years and is predicted to grow by another 19% by 2030. The PPWR was therefore subject to intense lobbying by various industries.

The paper and food industry were able to secure a key concession: reusable packaging won’t be mandatory – just 10% of menus must be offered in reusable containers. They argued that recycling and reuse should be treated equally under the law because reusable can have bigger lifecycle effects on the climate because of the energy needed to wash it.

Wine, flexible wrap packaging, aluminium and other materials that are difficult to reuse or recycle were exempted, as well as cardboard in reuse targets for transport.

At the urging of national governments in the Council, member states will be able to delay the implementation of re-use targets for 2030 and 2040 by five years, provided they perform above average on recycling. This, they said, would reflect the very different starting points for recycling in Europe. Some countries in the EU’s Northwest have close to 100% recycling while others in the EU’s east have almost zero.

Binding targets

The European Environmental Bureau, an NGO, has complained that these exemptions introduced by the Council during the legislative process will make the regulation less effective. Still, they applauded the fact that a law seen at risk of collapse looks set to be passed.

“One of the most heavily lobbied files of this term survived the deceptive tactics of throwaway proponents,” said EEB Senior Policy Officer Marco Musso. “We will now have binding packaging waste reduction targets charting a clear path for the sector. Despite some regrettable setbacks and unjustified derogations, this compromise now gives the EU and its Member States a chance to stop the packaging waste crisis.”

The final legislative text also allows for possible flexibility on the targets based on the latest science. As the 2030 and 2040 targets approach, the Commission will have to assess the availability of material as well as the hygiene and environmental situation to make sure the targets are realistic. The Commission could at that time decide to raise the target if the situation warrants it.

“I think this makes sense because we’re looking at a very disruptive change – in some cases, recyclable packaging, even single use, is delivering a better impact notably on climate,” said Carpentier. “Also, if there’s no recycled plastic on the market you can’t meet the target, which would not be fair on the companies.”

Too much flexibility?

However, she added that she is concerned that in some areas too much flexibility has been granted to member states. “Member states can still go further if they feel they need to do so to meet the objective of reducing packaging waste. That is worrying because then you don’t have the predictability, you have different requirements. We feared this outcome, we know some member states want to keep their existing systems in place, but we believe that’s against the good functioning of the single market.”

Once the law’s final adoption takes place in the coming weeks the Commission will begin working with national governments and stakeholders to monitor the new regime’s development. The law will require several acts of implementing secondary legislation which will come directly from the Commission without going through the normal legislative process.

“We will aim to provide the Commission with technical documents that support the secondary legislation,” said Carpentier. “The bottlenecks lie at collection, so that will depend on first consumers, but also on the Producer Responsibility Organisations [collection, sorting and recycling obligation schemes] which are not always well functioning. In some countries, the infrastructure is not in place. You need harmonization to reach the 2030 targets.”

[By Dave Keating I Edited by Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab ]

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