‘Room for fine tuning’ on EU’s packaging waste regulation, official says

The EU’s proposed packaging waste regulation can be fine-tuned to suit business needs but should not allow for too many exemptions, said Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea, director for circular economy at the European Commission’s environment department.

The European Commission tabled its proposal for a Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation in November 2022, aiming to promote reusability and recyclability while reducing waste. 

Since then, the proposal has faced a chorus of criticism from business associations who warn that reusability targets will disrupt existing recycling systems and cause a surge in plastics to replace single-use paper-based packaging.

The European Commission is now pushing back against that criticism, saying the proposal’s objectives must be maintained.

“There is room for fine-tuning, but not for disruption,” said Ciobanu-Dordea. “We need a regulation which has a Single Market legal basis and which does not allow for too many exemptions,” he added at a recent event organised by EURACTIV.

The Commission proposed a balanced mix of tested measures, Ciobanu-Dordea argued, adding that transparency is key to the process because foreign countries must comply with the regulation. 

For their part, paper-based packaging associations say it is essential that existing recycling schemes are preserved.

“Reduce, reuse and recycle are complementary – they go hand in hand,” said Eleni Despotou, director general of the European corrugated packaging association (FEFCO).

Corrugated packaging has a 90% recycling rate, with prospects that it may even reach 100% in some areas, Despotou said.

Environmental campaigners, meanwhile, have defended the European Commission’s drive to promote reusable packaging, saying it has a better environmental performance and could provide a solution to littering. 

However, there are concerns that compliance with the PPWR will be challenging for businesses, particularly SMEs.

“It means a lot of costs for them,” said Alena Mastantuono, a member of the employers’ group in the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). “And I think that some of them will leave the market because of it.”

Businesses need certainty and predictability, Mastantuono stressed, urging EU legislators to avoid a ‘trial-and-error’ approach. 

The need to step up action on waste reduction was highlighted in a recent report by the European Court of Auditors, published on 3 July, which found that EU member states have been slow in transitioning towards a circular economy.

“EU action has been so far powerless, meaning the circular transition is unfortunately almost at a standstill in European countries,”  the ECA report said.

[Edited by Frédéric Simon/Alice Taylor]

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