Act now: Amendments to packaging rules will cause ‘flood of plastic’ pollution

Call to correct mistakes in proposed amendments to EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation that will penalize recyclable materials, like cardboard, while promoting the plastics industry.

Imagine you’re in charge of regulating packaging in the European Union. You’re bringing in some new rules to reduce waste and pollution. So far, so good. But then it is revealed that an amendment mandating the reuse of packaging will cause a flood of plastic. That is exactly the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. Do you vote for it anyway?

The answer is obvious. Yet this is the exact dilemma now facing the EU, as it debates proposed amendments to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).

Everyone supports what the EU wants to achieve with this regulation. But recent amendments are counterproductive. They would impose mandatory re-use rules for transport packaging in too general a way. In practice, this decision would penalize recyclable materials, like cardboard, while promoting the plastics industry.

Analysis from trade association FEFCO has found that, instead of being significantly cut, the amount of unnecessary plastic transport packaging being produced will double by 20401. It isn’t possible to recycle plastic without making it more toxic. But that doesn’t mean we should give up and accept that producing mountains more to reuse is a good alternative.
more at: https://www.smurfitkappa.com/newsroom/2023/amendments-to-packaging-rules-will-cause-flood-of-plastic-pollution