Unlike the European Parliament, the Council of the EU has failed to recognise the contribution that circular packaging can make to competitiveness and sustainable growth in in their position on the Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). The European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) urges co-legislators to address waste reduction targets fairly, protect distinctive packaging designs and be more ambitious on recyclability and separate collection during the upcoming trilogue (inter-institutional) negotiations.
Fair effort sharing by all materials to reduce packaging waste
“We are deeply concerned that, although Member States acknowledged the risk of material substitution, the overall packaging waste reduction targets based only on weight will inadvertently encourage a shift from circular materials like glass to lighter but less recyclable or reusable materials,” said Adeline Farrelly, Secretary General of FEVE.
Protect distinctive packaging designs
“On top of its health and environmental benefits, the characteristics of glass in terms of design, transparency, shapes, colours and versatility often make glass an integral part of a product,” Farrelly continued. “So restricting packaging design disproportionately means that all products will look similar. Brands will lose one of the most important tools to convey their identity to consumers, and to stand out on the shelves.”
Beef up recyclability measures
“Not all recycling has the same environmental value,” said Farrelly. “The introduction of recyclability performance grades rewarding packaging that can be recycled multiple times and that can feed into a closed material loop would have been a major milestone. We regret that Member States missed the chance to incentivise packaging that is infinitely recyclable and which can remain productive in a circular economy over and over again.”
Push for separate collection targets for all materials
The industry supports a mandatory separate collection target of packaging waste for all materials and regrets that Member States decided to limit this to a small proportion of packaging formats in scope of the mandatory Deposit Return Schemes (DRS).
“Mandatory separate collection targets for all packaging materials will reduce waste much more effectively. It will also ease the burden on taxpayers and a country’s waste management costs,” added Farrelly.