The European Union will ban single-use plastic packaging in a deal on new green rules. According to Politico, negotiators reached a much less ambitious deal than originally proposed.
Disposable bags will disappear PHOTO archive The truth
Single-use packaging for fresh fruit and vegetables, mini hotel cosmetics and fast food will soon be banned in the EU after negotiators reached a deal on Monday.
The new legislation aims to tackle the growing amount of packaging waste in the EU. In 2021, the EU generated 188.7 kilograms of packaging waste per inhabitant – 10.8 kg more per person than in 2020, the biggest increase in 10 years.
“This is a historic agreement“, said Frédérique Ries, the legislator who leads the working group on this file for the European Parliament.
“We ask all industry sectors as well as Member States to make an effort, but we wanted the consumer to have a role in this fight against excessive packaging“, he also said.
As part of the effort, all packaging on the EU market will have to be recyclable by 2030, and from 1 January 2035, recyclable packaging will have to be recycled”on a large scale“.
Only plastic is targeted by the new legislation
Takeaway businesses will also have to allow customers to bring their own containers to be filled with drinks or food. The EU will ban the use of plastic bags “very easy“.
The deal agreed on Monday is a far cry from the European Commission's original proposal, which would have used broad bans and targets to push some sectors away from single-use packaging. Initially, for example, all single-use packaging used in restaurants for immediate consumption was banned – not just plastic.
“I mean, of course, I would have liked more” said Delara Burkhardt, the German MEP who led the negotiations for the Socialists and Democrats. “But I think what we have achieved is a good compromise. It is more ambitious than what Parliament put on the table, it provides more clarity on some aspects.“
Sectors affected by the new rules – such as brewers, wine producers, soft drinks companies, fast food chains, cosmetics businesses, recyclers, hoteliers and paper manufacturers – have competed to influence European lawmakers working on the text and to protect the industry.
An inquiry is underway in Parliament into the conduct of lobbyists accused of breaching security rules.
However, several industry groups got what they wanted.
The paper packaging industry, previously subject to extensive bans on various types of single-use packaging, has escaped those stipulations, which have been placed entirely on plastic packaging. Those bans will be in place until 2030.
What happens to packaging from third countries
The commission must agree after last-minute opposition from its own trade department to the original text, which would have forced non-EU companies to source plastic waste from the EU to meet recycled content targets, angering trading partners.
The Commission tried to backtrack on that stipulation, but it angered the recycling sector, which warned that allowing waste from third countries to count towards EU recycling targets was a “threat to the viability of our industry” due to “unfair competition from Asia“.
The Parliament and Council's solution is a so-called mirror clause, under which companies would have to meet EU sustainability criteria for recycled content to count – but the Commission has yet to approve this compromise.
The chairman of Parliament's environment committee, Pascal Canfin, said the Commission should support the proposal or risk “(killing) its own text because it cannot support a fair competitive market for our own industry.”
The final text has not yet been made public. It also needs to be fully approved by both Parliament and the Council.
