Parliament votes to water down EU’s packaging waste law

The European Parliament adopted its position Wednesday (22 November) on legislation to reduce packaging waste, weakening some key measures on the table following a tense debate on the role of reuse, recycling and bans.

Each European produces 190 kilograms of packaging waste yearly, something the new law aimed to reverse with a renewed push on recycling and new targets on reuse and waste prevention.

However, lawmakers voted to weaken some of these measures, including on reuse and bans for unnecessary packaging, following political division and intense lobbying.

In the end, the Parliament’s stance on the law was passed with 426 votes in favour, 125 against and 74 abstentions, after “a very difficult vote”, according to Nils Torvalds, a Finnish centrist MEP who is one of the lead lawmakers on the file.

With the Parliament’s position now adopted, negotiations can start with EU member states to finalise the law in so-called trilogue talks also involving the European Commission.

Reuse and bans weakened

The Parliament’s position includes reducing unnecessary packaging by 5% by 2030, 10% by 2035 and 15% by 2040.

There are also specific measures to reduce plastic packaging, including a ban on very lightweight plastic carrier bags (unless required for hygiene or preventing food waste) and heavy restrictions on single-use formats like miniature hotel toiletries.

Overall, lawmakers want to cut the amount of plastic packaging in Europe by 10% by 2030, 15% by 2035 and 20% by 2040.

However, measures to reduce packaging waste, such as bans on unnecessary packaging and reuse targets, were removed, making environmental organisations question how waste reduction targets will be achieved.

Reuse targets were also watered down, with a new provision allowing EU countries to get out of 2030 reuse targets for a specific packaging type if they have a recycling rate of over 85% for that material.

This drew the ire of NGOs and left-wing lawmakers who criticised the European Parliament’s stance as a missed opportunity to boost reuse and pointed the finger at lawmakers for bowing to pressure from industry.

“We cannot recycle our way out of this mess,” said Green lawmaker Grace O’Sullivan. “If your single-use plastic cup is recycled into a single-use plastic bag, it is not sustainable. If your plastic junk is swapped for cardboard junk, it is not sustainable. And if we continue to generate levels of waste at current rates, that is, by definition, unsustainable,” she added.

The agreed text reads like the “packaging lobby’s Christmas wish list,” said German lawmaker Delara Burkhardt, who was fighting for strong reuse provisions on behalf of the Parliament’s socialist group.

“We could have made reusable packaging the norm across Europe, banned unnecessary single-use packaging like disposable cups in fast-food restaurants or individual plastic packaging for fruits and vegetables, and set guidelines against excessive air in shipping packages,” the German MEP said. “The European Parliament has missed a significant opportunity to address the growing waste heaps in the EU,” she added.

Similarly, Zero Waste Europe, an environmental pressure group, criticised the removal of bans for disposable plates and cups from dine-in restaurants and single-use packaging for fruit and vegetables.

“Granting derogations and exemptions on waste prevention and reuse to ‘appease’ industry players is unacceptable and takes us even further from the ultimate goal of this revision: reducing packaging waste,” said Aline Maigret, head of policy at the NGO.

Conservatives satisfied

Meanwhile, centre-right and conservative lawmakers welcomed the Parliament vote as a shift away from the “over-regulation and micro-management” contained in the draft proposal by the European Commission.

“A ban on packaging alone will not reduce waste,” said Massimiliano Salini, the lead lawmaker on the file for the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP). “We need innovative, fully renewable and recycled packaging formats. These should not be banned,” he added, saying he was happy that bans on certain packaging formats were abandoned.

“Our first concern is food safety and health, where single-use packaging plays a key role in our everyday lives. While aiming for reuse, we must be aware of packaging’s life cycle. One cannot generalise, single-use can still be the best environmental solution in certain circumstances,” Salini said.

Industry groups were also largely happy with the result.

UNESDA, representing the European soft drinks sector, commended “positive efforts” by the European Parliament to create a circular economy.

“We very much appreciate MEPs’ efforts in promoting circularity of beverage packaging by enabling closed-loop recycling, mandating the setting-up of Deposit and Return Systems (DRS) and acknowledging the complementarity of reuse and recycling as well as the role of systems enabling refill,” said Nicholas Hodac, director general of UNESDA.

Industry groups also welcomed the Parliament’s bigger focus on improving waste collection, which is a precondition to improve recycling.

“We welcome the adoption of a mandatory collection target for packaging – an indispensable condition for effective recycling,” said Annick Carpentier, director general at the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE).

“Overall, ACE is pleased to see that the definition of high-quality recycling remains linked with the quality of recycled materials and their potential to substitute primary raw materials,” she added.

On the other hand, the plastics industry was not happy, criticising arbitrary bans and watered targets for recycled content to be incorporated into new products.

“It is unfortunate that the decision by the environment committee to reduce the recycled content targets for contact-sensitive packaging has not been reversed in Plenary,” said Virginia Janssens, managing director at Plastics Europe, a trade association.

This is a missed opportunity to use the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation to boost the development of the market for recycled plastic packaging in Europe,” she added.

[Edited by Frédéric Simon/Alice Taylor]

Read more with EURACTIV